Rita,

The biggest changes I made after my lymphoma diagnoses was to reduce stress. My diet, as compared to a lot of people, was never so bad, but my stress level was terrifically high. As I went along, I tried to position myself so that my career wasn't always so tentative and that I wasn't always waiting for the other shoe to fall. Of course, since then I've been treated for two additional cancers - but my stress level has been much, much lower!

Moving forward from here, I'm trying to make some really positive changes to my diet. As a matter of fact, I'm right in the middle of reorganizing my kitchen to make it more "chef-friendly" so I can easily prepare foods at home with the ultimate goal of dropping another 25 pounds or so. My nutritionist and I came up with a plan so that I don't drop too much weight too quickly, which would be really easy to do right now, so that my body continues to get the nutrition it needs to keep healing from my treatment.

Stage IV SCC lt lateral tongue, surgery 5/19/08 (partial gloss/upper neck dissection left side/radial free flap reconstruction) IMRT w/weekly Cisplatin & Erbitux 6/30/08, PEG 1 6/12/08 - out 7/14 (in abdominal wall, not stomach), PEG 2 7/23/08 - out 11/20/08, Tx done 8/18/08
Second SCC tumor, Stage 1, rt mobile tongue, removed 10/18/2016, right neck dissection 12/9/2016
Third SCC tumor, diagnosed, 4/19/2108, rt submandibular mass, HPV-, IMRT w/ weekly Cisplatin, 5/9 - 6/25/2018, PEG 3 5/31/2018