After reading the gut-wrenching posts under "I stopped my IMRT" (in Medication/
Treatment/Procedures) I darn near wanted to weep. So here's a hopeful, encouraging report.

Tmw I am four weeks out of treatment. (Chemo + 70 radiation doses in 7 weeks, the latter half of which were IMRT.) My neck had looked like hamburger, the burns were so bad. That's virtually all healed. My hair has started growing. On 6/22 my blood work came back 100% normal, including white blood cell count and related readings such as platelets. Everything normal, so my immune system appears to have fully recovered. No longer compromised.

Unfortunately my mouth soreness continues unabated, so I am still subsisting on water plus CVS's knockoff of Ensure. I am so-o-o ready to be finished with that! In some ways it is harder to deal with than treatment, because there's no end date to fix in mind and say, "Just tough it out this far, and it'll be over!"

Also, as you might guess, thick saliva continues to be an issue, but it may have partially diminished in favor of dry mouth. Hard to tell, being gradual and subjective. It was these forums that first gave me a sobering, realistic view of how long I would be living with saliva issues. (Thank you all!)

Right now I'd settle for mouth soreness to subside, along with related tissue inflammation. Meantime, I remain a lidocaine junkie. (2% viscous solution, diluted.) It's the only way I can get through taking nutrition and even sipping water. Even with lidocaine, I sometimes feel jagged stabbing pains when sipping.

While all this is unpleasant, it is manageable. Attitude is generally positive. Very grateful for signs of healing in other areas, especially the blood work.

My heart goes out ot Sone, the woman who stopped IMRT because her pain became intolerable. What a choice to make: unendurable pain vs. life itself. "There but for the grace of God, go I."