Margaret,

The dates ( 2 years a part) are so close and Dan was just a couple years younger. 2 children...etc... Dan even looks a bit like Jeff. I'll have to send you a picture. Each of our boys ages 14 and 19 went to the radiation treatment with him, saw the big machine ( 2 weeks brand new state of the art machine) and got a tour of the facility. We are only 15 minute drive away. We were shocked how far you had to go for Dan's treatment.

The second round of chemo will not be Cisplatin. We don't know what it will be yet. Jeff had some ringing in his ears but it wasn't bothersome enough to make note of. His next chem is July 2nd. He is still nauseated but were not sure that is not from the radiation. He has meds for that.

He is really depressed. The psychologist talked to him today, but he doesn't have his next appt. for 2 weeks. Our insurance plan has counseling but not every week. He'll go to a support group and hopefully that will help. She prescribed Prozac which I think is a bit premature considering this is situational depression and his feelings are quite normal. The fact that he gets up to go to treatment, eats and generally participates on this forum and sought out counseling is a good indication he is coping. Who wouldn't be depressed with a cancer diagnosis? He did get sleep meds and ant-anxiety meds which I believe will help. Prozac isn't out of the question but the side effects that need to be managed and all sorts of dosage changes is a bit much for now. We will see how it goes for the next week or so. I'm in the mental health field believe it or not and I'm always amazed how some doctors reach for the anti-depressants first thing. I would like him to learn breathing exercises and visualizations to relax. Whether he wants to do this I don't know. Okay, I'm rambling.Looking forward to a weekend without radiation. The sun is actually shining today, pretty good for San Francisco which is very foggy and grey for the next few months.

Vanessa