Hi, have you tried soft boiled eggs?My husband lived on them throughout the treatment and the Carnation VHC. That seemed to go down easily. The eggs were soothing, oatmeal was too rough for him. We also were able to do pancakes that had smooth edges. He soon moved to pasta and spinach. I hope that it all subsides soon. I hope that this helps but we are three months out and he is eating steak, fish, lasagna, omelettes, french toast on soft bread, yogurt and soup. Keep trying things, it will all get better soon. My hubby was very discouraged and bored with his diet but each week he tries something else and now things don't taste like wallpaper paste any longer. Persistence is the word of the day.

Pat, all sounds normal and as others have said he should "walk out of this tunnel" in 2 to 3 weeks and begin his recovery. Re the mucous, be prepared for when this phase ends the dry mouth phase usually begins. For most it's really severe at first. Not painful just really really DRY. I had to keep a water bottle in every room of my house and every car was equipped with several bottles as I would always seem to leave my bottle somewhere in a store and not remember until I was driving off. The dry mouth phase along with his taste will recover slowly over the next 2 years until it reaches his new normal. Tell him that he needs to be patient as we have not found anything that speeds up our post Tx healing process.

So glad to hear about the chemo, I had my concerns and it makes me feel better. I asked Pat's onc about the shot. I got it several times during my chemo for breast cancer. He said that it is not necessary so we are just being very careful and staying out of public places. Unfortunately we are staying away from the grandchildren too since they have runny noses. Good news, yesterday I came home for lunch and Pat was eating a cream soup, another new item on the menu!!! Yesterday things improved a little bit and the evening was easier by adjusting some meds. I am off tomorrow so think it is time for some therapeutic out of the house time, maybe up by the water. I read a couple of things yesterday, one was using pineapple juice to help cut the mucus and the other was Aloe Gel mixed with water to help heal the throat. Your thoughts?

Sorry but I have not used either one. I would suggest asking the doc. I would think pineapple juice would burn his mouth. When someone is just finishing radiation everything burns a overly sensitive mouth. Even regular water bothered me, it tasted burnt and it hurt to drink.

You are smart to keep your husband away from young children and crowds til his immune system bounces back. Another shot to boost white counts is procrit. Check with your husbands MO about if he needs to get the shots. If his numbers are that low, he should get a shot.

Glad to hear your husband is doing a little better with eating. It will be baby steps for a while then you will begin to notice his recovery is going better.

Take it day by day

Pineapple hurt my throat whet I was getting treatment. The first thing I got down after I was done treatment was warm tea with milk. To me, 7 weeks out, warm tea still tastes better than water and feels good on my throat.

I hope this helps.

Thanks! I am going to insist on blood work on Tuesday when we go for a follow up with his Radiation Oncologist. I thought it was strange they were not doing anything to boost him up and will definitely be questioning that. Still struggling with the night time crashes. About 5-6 pm starts getting chills, pain and fever goes up slightly although still under 100. Looking forward to getting out tomorrow together and just chillin.

Hi Deb,
I don't understand why they didn't jump on the low counts. That should really be addressed to your medical oncologist. He shouldn't be having a fever at all, I wouldn't think. I'm not a doc though. Kevin got the Neulasta with each Cistplatin tx.
I'm glad Pat didn't get burns on the outside of his neck. Kevin STILL has open sores there, though they are almost gone. We figure 1 more week and he should be bandage free.
We also had our Cistplatin before radiation, then Erbitux with radiation. I think it's interesting how different docs handles things.
I think I also told you Kev has pretty much eaten eggs everyday. Not softboiled though, we scrambled them and added a little cheese.
It sounds like getting out is a good idea. Just remember to be proactive about the low counts. I hope you have fun tomorrow!!!

Thanks Kathy! Today was french toast and breakfast together! Progress! Our big celebration will be ribs someday, Pat has been craving them since he hasn't been able to eat "normal" food. We are going to try the eggs and cheese tomorrow. We have a friend that is finishing his first week of treatment and you are so right about different doctors and different methods. He has the daily radiation and chemo every week for 6 weeks, 6 hours each time. We were advising him to be sure to take his pre and post nausea meds and he let us know he doesn't have any.

With a count that low the low grade fever and chills are concerning however everything I've read says to get to a Dr if the temp goes to 100.5 or greater. The important thing is to minimize exposure as his body really won't have the tools to handle infections or illness. The flu at this point would wreck him so hand washing, minimizing exposure and making sure he's hydrated and good nutrition is about the only thing you can do if he's already getting Neulasta.

Debbie, you're doing a great job by the way, keep up the good work! Caregiving is the hardest job on the planet and you're rockin it.

Eric

So true Eric. You are rockin' it Deb. I KNOW exactly what you are going through! You really are doing a good job.
How was the fever tonight? He ISN'T getting the Neulasta, right?
Did you get the outside time today!! It was beautiful here, but quite cold. We actually had snow on the ground this am. Yuck!
Hope you're having a good night.
Kathy