Cathy,

I know that we are very lucky with just having a stage 1 cancer. Michael just had IMRT radiation recommended. I think if he had gotten started a little sooner after the initial dx that it might have been a tiny bit easier. That delay from the dx on 9/12/06 to starting tx on 10/24/06 was very anxiety producing. Are these delays with starting tx normal?

The first cancer center with which we were involved kept putting us off. When they cancelled the start of radiation on 10/23 and couldn't tell us when it could be rescheduled that was very upsetting. We were then fortunate in finding another, and I think better, tx center nearby.

My husband actually was our primary chef at home. He is self-employed / semi retired and I work full time. I used to enjoy cooking too, but the older I get the more tired I am at the end of a work day. I am trying many varieties of food for him now, but he is still having a lot of problems making himself eat food. He says everything is bitter and / chalky. He will get weighed tomorrow at the cancer center and we will see where we are with his weight. We have a scale here, but I think we are both afraid to look.

We have some of the numbing agents already, but my husband is afraid to use them. He thinks they will numb everything and he will bite his tongue and will feel worse. Right now he is taking minimal pain meds - he was taking more a couple weeks ago. The actual cancer feels better right now, and his throat pain is tolerable. It is just the taste problems at this time.

Regarding salivary glands after treatment, we read some studies about acupuncture actually helping with this. Does anyone have any experience with this? Of course finding an acupuncturist nearby will be a challenge too.
Barbara