We are down to 5 more rad treatments and all is well. My question now is what to expect after its done. We understand that for 2 weeks or so we should expect that my husband will feel worse, but then he should start improving. He got through so far really well. He's biggest challenge is keep weight on. He expects that he will go back to work a week after the treatments are finished although he never really stopped working, just did so from home. Are we fooling ourselves that this will be a distant memory soon?

If all is well, so far, the weeks after treatment may not be as bad as is for some. Usually it's the time when the rope mucus sets in, then the dry mouth, skin burns are at its worst. Radiation keeps working several weeks after the completion of treatment. Don't expect side effects to suddenly stop at the two week mark, it slowly gets better. Most significant improvements, in my experience, are at 3 months, 6 months, 1 year. Maybe because historically is when I see my doctors, have scans and have to think about it more. Side effects can take years to resolve, some never, and then long term effects can set in. I don't ever think it's a distant memory, but life goes on, the worst may be behind him, and is often individualized, just like treatment.

Good luck.

Hi Maura,

Nobody knows with certainty but based on your description, he has indeed whizzed through treatment. Fantastic!

Just based on what I've seen here, I'd take a bet he will not get much worse. Maybe follow the same trend for a couple weeks then stabilized if he has not already done so.

That said, don't surprised if he does find some side effects showing up. Just tend to them and they will resolve quickly.

You'll be into recovery mode in no time. Great for you!

My oncologist told me to expect to feel bad for the same duration after treatment as treatment lasted. My radiation (only) lasted 7 weeks. If memory serves (it really does blur with time) I was at my worst about 4 weeks post treatment and then it began to start getting better. Improvement is SLOW, you won't notice any significant change on a daily or even weekly basis. If you can even remember all the symptoms you had a month or two months ago, then you will notice they are not quite as bad as they were before.

I thought my recovery would be linear in nature, about the same amount of improvement on a daily or weekly basis until everything was just back to normal. It wasn't like that for me, had plenty of ups and downs, improvements and setbacks along the way.

I'm coming up on 1 year since treatment completion. I still have a few dry mouth, dry sinuses issues and food still doesn't taste right, but otherwise life has pretty much returned to normal. Maybe the best thing about all this is the weight loss. I lost 40 pounds during treatment and have been able to keep almost all of it off, though I'm sure many on the forum would not consider that to be a good thing.

You will get there, it just takes awhile, so be patient.

Tony