It would help if you could help your sister-in-law put in a routine and make up charts for meds, feeds, etc. I am the only caregiver and even for me, some days just merged into others and I could not remember if I had given him his meds this morning or was it yesterday. Have your sister in law drive your brother around the neighborhood or to the park to sit on a park bench for five, ten minutes each day -- he may be too weak to walk but being out of the house helps lift the spirit. Talk to your brother about taking it one day at a time and not to get ahead of himself -- he will eventually come to realize that it is a new normal and, as for recurrences, don't try to cross that bridge until you get to it. You want him to live in the moment and enjoy every day.

PaulB said it all: "Some side effects can last up to two years, more, but are minor inconveniences compared to cancer"

Not much I could add to that.

But here's something I can add, there's a new product that I find works better than any Biotene product for dealing with Dry mouth.

It's a spray that comes in a very small bottle and available only either on-line, or from a dentist. (I dunno why, that's just the way it is.)

it's called CariFree CTx2 spray. It contains Xylitol and also provides pH neutralization of your mouth. The later is important in fighting cavities, and radiation does something that really exacerbates the potential for cavities.

I buy boxes of this from my dentist for $20/4 ea 12/ml bottles and keep one in my car (in the ashtray) and another at my bedside for those times I wake up to go to the bathroom. Each bottle is good for about 200 sprays, and they recommend 2-3 sprays each usage.

Ask your dentist about this,

Here's another tip for those of us who suffer from dry mouth; chew gum that is sweetened with Xylitol. Also, IceBreakers mints are sweetened with xylitol and do the same, but all xylitol mints (there are others) have the draw back that they only work while they are still in your mouth. Very, very short term.

The gum,however, seems to work as long as you have it in your mouth (and are not engaged in any activity that is really strenuous.)

I use Trident "Tropical twist." I buy it in 3-paks at the grocery store. Overall, it works better than any of the products above (IMHO), but the drawback for me is that I often end up biting my cheek. Then I have to fall back on a water bottle or one of the products above.

Good luck!

Once I was on a bus, and had no place to put my dry mouth lozenge, has Xylitol, I got tired of, so I put the lozenges in my water bottle, which turned it blue, but it helped my dry mouth for a few hours while taking periodic sips. Something just seems wrong with drinking blue minty water lol, so I never did it again, but it worked.