Sara, I had that chemo mix and the only side effect I had was total loss of the hair on my head from the taxol. There was absolutely none of the nausea and hearing problems that I experienced with cisplatin, so I expect the only other downside will be the time it takes to administer the drugs. As far as the remainder of radiation, I did not find that it got progressively worse at all, but pretty much stayed at the same level except that I got more tired as the weeks went by. The worst gunk in my mouth didn't kick in until after, but there are lots of tips on this forum for dealing with that, and of course every patient is different. As you and John have reached the halfway point, I suggest that you begin counting down. When I did that, it seemed to make the time go faster. Whatever you do, know that you are nearing the end of treatment and everything will eventually be much, much better.