Nelie and Bob,

I hate to be the one that dredges up the old rule of thumb that's often used here -- the one that says you need a month of recovery time for each week of radiation. It may not actually be that bad, but I know it can feel like a horrendously slow process when you want to see some tangible improvement.

In the few months that followed radiation, I know I had quite a few embarrassing restaurant moments when I thought I was geared up to handle a particular dish and found out in mid-mouthful that it wasn't meant to be. There were times when it seemed as though my taste buds would never be "normal" again and I wondered if I could ever again enjoy any social event that involved food. (I also thought I would always wake up in the morning feeling as though I had been chewing on sawdust all night, but these days I wake up drooling on the pillow -- even though I lost some salivary glands, had XRT and didn't have amifostine.)

It DOES get better -- please don't give up hope.

Cathy