Thank you again and again! The home health nurse is on her way over now. And yes tina...I need that encouragement to push myself! It's soooo tempting to curl up in a ball and never want to get out of bed again. This is why I came here...I know I can get encouragement from those who have walked this path before me.

Hi and welcome... Since most of your questions have been answered I'll just say we're here if you need to chat.. hugs.

Thanks so very much Cheryl. I'm sure I will be crying out during and post radiation.

Try to maintain a positive attitude (I know its hard) knowing what to expect - plan for the worst side effects - hope for the best. Everyone here has a different story - radiation was no picnic, but compared to others I had it easy... So not everyone suffers immensely, not everyone has it easy - usually people sit somewhere in the middle of that mess. but you will get through it. read up on this disease - know what should be done and what is standard and this will help you advocate for yourself. Hugs!

Ha! You are in my head. That's my motto "plan for the worst and hope for the best" my RO said I know too much. I threw my motto and him, and he said that sounded good. I have anxiety attacks and cry a lot. I vision myself just writhing in pain with no relief and barley being able to function. I imagine every waking hour will seem like eternity, until I can get to the next day. So, I suppose anything less than that I will be grateful for. Again thank you for the support, I have a feeling I will be asking you for some more of it in the future.

If you are that anxious, you probably should seek out a therapist to help get you thru this. While the forum is a great place for moral support and we really do understand you, a therapist would be someone else to have in your corner. Many patients and quite a few caregivers need anxiety meds to get thru this. The meds can take a few weeks to work so it would be a good plan to get the ball rolling and at least make an appointment to talk with someone and give the meds a try. Its natural to be afraid of the unknown. We are here to help you thru this. But at the same time, having all the help you can is being an informed and prepared patient.

Thanks Christine, I will take that into consideration.

NGK... Remember this - pain wise there are a crapload of drugs that can be offered. There is no need to suffer!!!! I'm not going to sell you a fairy tale, it will hurt, but it should be manageable. I started to be uncomfortable at week three or 4 - very standard. I could feel some blisters, I rinsed a lot with the salt, baking soda, water mixture - usually after I'd put anything in my mouth. I wanted the blisters to be kept clean, that way if they burst I could minimize the potential for infection. I did this religiously throughout my treatment, then someone mentioned manuka honey, I researched it and ran it by my rads guy and there was no objection so I gave it a shot. Let me say I never want to taste honey again - however it helped keep my mouth clean and stop the blisters somewhat in their tracks (the RO said I had them but they never opened therefore were far less painful) i used the honey and the baking soda mixes to clean my mouth - er and my best friend was a waterpik to clean out the gunk. From this point on I lost my taste (standard) and it did hurt to swallow towards the end of treatment but I would chug an ensure or protein drink towards the end and then snooze. Things finally got really painful for me the weekend before radiation ended (my rads ended on a Tuesday) that weekend I was HIGHLY uncomfortable. They had sent me home with liquid codeine when I had my peg placed at the beginning of treatment but since I couldn't keep anything down that I put in the peg, I called my neighbor and snagged about 6 oxy off of her. They don't give me the buzz, that most people get, nor do they really get rid if the pain, but they did make me sleepy - so for about a week, (I ended up getting a prescription from my RO on the Monday) I would pop an oxy, wait a bit, then rinse with magic mouthwash (totally numbs your mouth for a short time) then chug my nutrition then sleep!!!! this worked like a charm. A week or two later I started my slow climb out of the radiation hole. Now for me I went through most of my treatment with no pain meds. But I have a high pain tolerance. I know many here who have needed high dose pain meds... Fentanyl etc... Don't be afraid to tell them , particularly if you are sensitive to pain. Don't be caught without them on hand. Hugs and good luck,

Got it and printed it out! I'm making a folder of remedies that worked for others and will see what works for me. The pain meds will be a problem trying to figure the right amount mixed with zofran, so I don't become nauseous. So not looking forward to that, but I am looking forward to the water pik! Many thanks...

I tried to take pain and nausea meds on a time schedule and NOT by how I felt. If you wait til you are hurting to take a pain med IMO, you're too late. I think that's the difference between pain management and pain response. Same with the zofran. If you take it when you're queezy you'll be queezy til it kicks in.

The exception to the above was during recovery when I might see how long I could go without one or the other until neither were needed. Made a few mistakes there...