 Senior Patient Advocate Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts)
Joined: Sep 2006 Posts: 8,311 | IG,
You have come to the right place. Search this site for all the reading materials and if you read everything here you'll probably know more than her doctors. Well close enough.
Ask any/all questions you may have. She most likely is now entering the worse phase of the radiation which can last from now thru the 3 week or so POST Tx with the weeks Post Tx being the worse. There are many "side effects" that she can encounter and most of them can be tied directly to insufficient hydration and insufficient calories. We tell patients to drink 48 ozs of water and at least 2500 - 3000 calories EACH AND EVERY DAY. This is hard since your mouth can burn like hell so staying on top of her pain meds is equally important so that she can feel like swallowing.
Tell her we are all here to help her and you any way we can.
David
Age 58 at Dx, HPV16+ SCC, Stage IV BOT+2 nodes, non smoker, casual drinker, exercise nut, Cisplatin x 3 & concurrent IMRT x 35,(70 Gy), no surgery, no Peg, Tx at Moffitt over Aug 06. Jun 07, back to riding my bike 100 miles a wk. Now doing 12 Spin classes and 60 outdoor miles per wk. Nov 13 completed Hilly Century ride for Cancer, 104 miles, 1st Place in my age group. Apr 2014 & 15, Spun for 9 straight hrs to raise $$ for YMCA's Livestrong Program. Certified Spin Instructor Jun 2014.
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