Raymond, I am soso glad to hear that you are out of the hospital. I will write more in an email.

Your nausea is most likely caused by your pain medication. There are a million kinds of pain med., so call today and get something different, and get something specifically for the nausea also.

I could not eat or even drink at first. I was frightened. I begged for a feeding tube, and I begged to be taken back to the hospital, but my good husband convinced me to try one more day, and I was able to trust my swallowing enough to get a bit of liquid down.

You do need to try....and you need to keep your doctor notified of how you are doing. There is no way that you can hurt yourself on liquids. I know that swallowing is different and scary right now. I was terrified of choking, but gradually I learned that I could swallow.

The opening in your palate is closed, so nothing can go anywhere bad. Try letting some liquid go down the side of your mouth and down your throat. Try concentrating on using your soft palate, at the rear of your throat, for swallowing. Tip your head back a bit, so that the liquid goes down by gravity.

You might find that liquid nutrition......I like Boost best.....goes down easier than water, though you need some water also. Having a little thickness helped me get it down.

You do have to have some fluid, and you do need some nutrition. Right now, you will be ok for a few days, but you do need to be trying.

I know from experience that you will get over being afraid to swallow. It took me a good while, however. I lost 20 lb. in the first two weeks after my surgery, and then another 5 because it was so difficult to eat.

Set yourself a goal.....MAKE yourself drink 2 ounces of Boost every few hours. You will be surprised how this keeps your energy up.

And take your pain med. on a regular basis. Can you swallow your pills? I crushed mine, (my patient husband did it) and then I realized that I was probably irritating my mouth by doing that.

Also, you need to gently be opening your jaws. It is too early to really work them, but they will become stiff and will be very hard to open if you don't work on that..

Did they do a neck dissection? What they tell you about it? Did they feel that they were able to get clear margins on your surgery? Will you have to have radiation, or are you finished, exc. for recovery?

I should have put all of this in an email, I guess....

I have been really thinking about you. Call or write at any time. I sent you my numbers.

--COlleen