Eshwar,
what a hard thing for both you and your father. However much we want, we cannot give youth and health to back to our dear ones, but we can give joy and companionship and solice and love. The journey ahead will likely be very hard, Eswhar, but it will be hand in hand. My thoughts are with you.

Kelly, I was under the impression with my treatments that the rads work for 2-3 months after treatment.

Hank,

As my RO explained to me, radiation interrupts the ability of cancer cells DNA to divide and thus reproduce and proliferate. This effect continues in these cells for up to three weeks after radiation is discontinued.

It�s the worst effects of the radiation on the rest of our bodies and healthy cells that continue on for two to three months and those are just the worst effects (pain, swallowing, taste saliva etc...)Many of these problems continue for years in a diminished capacity.

You can post more about how your issues are progressing as time goes on and will find that there are many here who have been through this and will give you all the help and advice you need.

Best

That's very strange Kelly. My RO told me that the radiation continues to work to kill the cancer for 2-3 months after treatment ends which is why they don't do any follow up scans until that time. I don't mean to debate the issue, but I could swear that's what I was told. I should be getting a call from them this week, I will ask for clarification and will share what I learn.

All my love and prayers for you and your Dad.

Dear all, thanks for the best wishes. We had a meeting with the MO yesterday. He adviced Color Doppler for Neck and a Chest X-Ray and MO was kind enough to advice the departments to deliver the report quickly.

He concluded that my dad cannot progress with any active regimen due to his current state of health (Cardiac Efficiency @ 55% from 2D Echo) and poor intake. He has put him on pallative care starting off with Gefitinib 250mg once a day. Next review in a month. MO is hoping that targeted therapy may have an affect as it is still an local recurrence and he just had his treatment completed.

Statistically, Gefitinib does not seem to work on SCCHN and I had asked other options including MTX but MO is inclined to help my dad regain some health before trying other options.

I need your guidance around liquid and semi-solid vegetarian diet options. Thanks

Eshwar,

Your dad has an advantage having a very knowledgeable caregiver so let's get him on the right track nutritionally so his body has the tools for repair.

I'm on a mostly liquid diet and I "eat" 6x per day. I use a protein powder in three of those meals, you can add it to a can of Ensure or Boost and thin it out with water or milk. The other 3 meals I focus on fruits and veggies and calories. I'll mix some yogurt (probiotics) and fruit juice (fresh as I use a juicer) with peanut butter when I need sweet, or juice veggies(broccoli,garlic,tomato,carrots,spinach etc...) and then add olive oil for good fat and calories when I need savory.

That's a quick and dirty version of my diet, I "rarely" eat solids anymore unless I'm really feeling nostalgic.

Tell your dad we are pulling for him, keep your chin up my dear friend.

Eric

Eshwar... Sorry about your dads health, however please don't give up. Maybe the drug they are giving him will stabilize him enough to allow him to heal and regain some weight and immunity. Has he been on Erbitux? As it is supposed to work better on non HPV related cancers. You are an amazing caregiver and being localized is still a good thing.

As for diet - here's a place on he web called drink your meals - its run by a member from here - it looks at healthy high protein recipes for peg users and smoothie drinkers. Check it out. It's free I cancer patients. Hugs and good luck! And try circumen caplets if you aren't see if you can mix it in and feed it through his peg (if he has one) and if it's allowed or throw it into a smoothie or soup. Take care!

Hi Eric, thanks for the guidance. My dad also eats/drink as frequently as you do but I think I need to focus on protein part.

Cheryl, doctor has not started off Erbitux probably due to cardiac efficiency of 55%. In the meantime, I am also researching on BioMAb (Nimotuzumab) which has demonstrated good efficacy on Asian patients with less adverse reaction than Erbitux. I'll wait for a month to help my dad regain confidence and health before discussing it with the doctor.

I'll check the site that you had mentioned and I think you are talking about curcumin caplets, right? We Indians add curcumin (turmeric) in most of food that we cook!

Thanks for being there for me, wish I could meet each and everyone of you.

Hi yes I was referring to circumen caplets. I know Indians eat turmeric in their cooking and curries, however my naturopath suggested I take it in pill form. Eric here mentioned 400 mg I think in one of his postings, that's the amount I take according to my naturopath and some of the readings I've done the amount in turmeric is much lower as it is a component of turmeric - so it depending on how much you take in daily you may not hit that mark. particularly if you're having eating difficulties like your father is right now. Maybe opening a caplet and throwing it into his food will boost the amount he's getting. Only you know how much he's getting. Also i know I sound like I'm a major vitaminoholic but really I take only 1 vitamin d tablet, 1 circumin tablet, daily - and a zinc every second day. Every morning I have a breakfast smoothie with vegan protein added in (no soy) it's a mix of brown rice, hemp, and pea protein with other goodies, I also throw in half a cup of smoothie juices, (concentrated no sugar added just fresh fruit) and flax oil, a bit of cottage cheese - almond milk (unsweetened) and my own fresh fruit, berries, bananas etc... I get a good 56 gms of protein, it tastes great, it's filling, and It's low glycemic.
Well. I know you have a lot on your plate. Good luck with everything's, and hopefully his health improves over the next month. Take care.

Hank,

The radiation keeps working for up to three weeks. Its the healing that may be throwing you. If you are looking at a PET scan for signs that the cancer is still active, you have to wait three months. This is because healing cells look very much like cancer cells in a PET scan and the healing from the radiation and chemo can take up to three months. Thus the healing cells may give you a false positive for cancer.

My doctor just let me know that they would be doing a CT on me about 6 weeks out but will wait a full three months before taking a PET scan.