I am so glad your husband kept his saliva! It is wonderful to hear the positive side of things through treatment. I hope his recovery goes even better.

Ed

Me too! I pray for the best to all of us....caregivers as well! Thanks for the kind words.

Checking In ! Well it's been four weeks now and I wanted to stop by and fill in some blanks. I just finnished the second and last course of Chemo and all went very well. I basically brainwashed myself and wouldn't let the side effects get to me although it's not over yet. I have a shoebox of meds that I'm taking to help things along but I'm fine. The radiation is kicking in quite well now and I've got the painted field lines on my neck both sides for the next week or so. I can't taste much and swollowing is becoming a problem but with only 3.5 weeks left I'm deffinatly a hold out for the feeding tube. The Doctors (Some of the very best at this) are telling me that I'm way ahead of most people with this because of the positive attitude and determination I poses. Don't get me wrong...I know that cancer does not discriminate and I know I could very well lose this battle but....I'm not planning on it any time soon. There are to many people depending on me and much to much life left to live to let this get to me...I will forge ahead!

hey there Indy,

glad to hear that you are doing well, keep the spirits up. the shoebox of drugs should dwindle with time.

from your profile i see that you like to canoe and kayak.. me too. it's taken some time, but both of those are back in my life big time.. got out today in a kayak given to me by a friend.. it's a 30 yr old olympic style and it is fun to be in a tippy fast boat. tomorrow i plan to go out in a canoe with my wife to see flowers and birds.

so go with the flow and best wishes to you for a speedy complete recovery..

cheers,
larryb

Yes Larry, I have seven boats, three kayaks and four canoes...all but one are solo. I'm very active on some of the paddling message boards. Paddling is a great way to escape the worlds problems if only for a short while. I'm glad to hear from you and maybe some day I'll get to paddle with you. we have some pretty sizeable gatherings over at paddling.net

Hi Indy, glad to hear things are going so well for you! In no time, you will have no shoebox. I had a rougher time with the chemo than the radiation. All my life my stomach has been a problem and the chemo kept me on all fours, close to the throne, if you know what I mean. It has been over so long that I don't remember what it was like until my wife reminds me. Heck, I don't remember much from that few weeks and I was even working through most of it.

Ed

Indy,
It sounds like you are doing well to get through IMRT and chemotherapy. It is a tough go, my thoughts and prayers are with you. My father was also treated at Cleveland Clinic for SCC stage 2~3, from 12/29/03 - 2/18/04, by Dr. Saxton, Dr. Fleming, and Dr. Wood. My Dad had a line of cancer from his lip to his ear, he has had leukoplakia for 10-15 years. There was lymph node involvement, 2 nodes I believe. He was quite ill through IMRT, received no chemotherapy, or amifostine. He had 33 IMRT treatments, 3 Boost treatments, and 5 days of brachytherapy. He found that if he mixed baby food cereal with the nutritional drinks that he wouldn't be so sick to his stomach. His stomach was more sick from the morphine patch than from the radiation., but the excessive mucous had a lot to do with that too. He has been finished with treatments since Feb. 18th, he is happy to report that at least 60% of his ability to taste is back. He works everyday, and doesn't seem exhausted as I feared. He had a lot of saliva during treatment, and has only lost it within the last month or so, 2 months post radiation. My Dad doesn't drink much water, so I believe that could contribute to the dry mouth. We haven't gotten a clean diagnosis yet, but we are very hopeful.

I pray that this will be behind you soon, and that you will be back to paddling in some peaceful waterway soon.

Best regards,
Deb

Welcome Indy,

You have found a great source of support and information on oral cancer. I wish you good luck as you travel through your treatment phase. Please post any questions you have as needed, someone seems to always have an answer.

Welcome again, Dan