Hi Marina,

You've got lots of advise here, but I thought I would add my experience.

I had a modified radical neck dissection, followed by 6-1/2 weeks of radiation (5-1/2 weeks on both sides and then 1 week just on the left side where the lymph nodes were involved) with weekly cisplatin and Erbitux.

My RO did not recommend a PEG, advising that if I needed it I could get it put in later. One of his nurses was more insistent that I should get it, but I elected to wait.

Eating became extremely difficult after a short time (I'll say 1-2 weeks, but I don't really recall exactly). I fairly quickly developed a very simple diet that I could tolerate, consisting of an egg-beater omelet and 2 Boost Plus for each meal. I also drank a lot of water between meals. I lost maybe 5 lb total during treatment. I did use a codeine-tylenol mixture daily, as well as the magic mouthwash just before eating the eggs - these helped with the raw throat.

Anyway, that's my story.

Best wishes,

Chris