I have lip cancer, T2N0, had a lip resection, reconstruction, and a modified neck dissection on Jun 12th. About a week after surgery, I developed an infection that lasted about 4 weeks, but got cleared up and was cleared for radiation. After day 6, I started developing a low grade fever after treatment but was gone the next morning ..Day 7...same thing....Day 8 my neck was swollen that my mask no longer could be fully snapped to the table. I saw my Radon Dr told him my concerns. That night I spiked a fever of 102.5...but went back to mild the rest of the weekend...but neck kept growing. Late Sunday night I had drainage coming out at the weak point in my neck along the incision line. I called my surgeon...he had me come in that afternoon. I was escorted next door to the ER where I was admitted and immediately put on IV antibiotics. This was on Monday. After so many tests and lots of waiting...Friday all the sensitivity tests finally came back. Infectious Diseases finally came back with a plan. Best news was no PICC line. She came up with a plan that I could go home yesterday and continue radiation. The swelling is cellulitis of the neck. Now I am so scared to go back to my treatment. This is the second time I've had this infection and gone on antibiotics. I don't ever want to be chained to a hospital bed for a week again. And the worse part, in my mind, I have dropped 10lbs since Day 1 of treatment. Radon Dr will not be happy. I try to eat..but, also being diabetic, my eating habits for this past year was getting weight off...now I have to put it back on. This is quite the struggle. Today I started adding protein shakes to help. Any support, guidance, tips are welcomed!!

Oh no! I'm so sorry to hear that. What a complete bump in the road.
I can give you suggestions to boost calories to help you put on weight. I am in the UK, so I'll try to stick to foods that I believe are available where you are. Please ask me if you're not sure of something and I'll try to find it for you. It's great that you're using protein powder into your smoothies, as the extra protein will help your body heal. My dietitian told me to aim for 100g of protein a day.

If you can get hold of Ensure plus and Ensure Juice plus, each bottle will give you 300 calories per bottle. When I was on rads I made smoothies with 2 Ensure and then I added things to do it to boost. For example, 2 banana Ensure, 1 frozen banana, 1 tbsp chia seeds, portion of protein powder, 1 vanilla protein yogurt and some toasted oats blitzed with ice is really hearty and has great calories and lots of protein.

A chocolate Ensure plus, an orange Ensure juice plus, 1tbsp chia seeds, 2 scoops chocolate ice cream, flesh of an orange, a portion of protein powder and some whole milk in case of it being too thick gives you a lovely chocolate orange smoothie.

A vanilla Ensure, a lime Ensure juice, protein powder, 3 ginger biscuits, vanilla protein yogurt, whole milk and ice give you a great key lime pie smoothie.

There are more food ideas here and I posted some soup recipes here which might help you put on weight.

I've even been slicing up protein bars to add to my smoothies. The best one I made had 75g of protein in and was around 800 calories.

Thanks so much!!! This absolutely helps! These sound like great recipes. I did get some chocolate Boost Glucose control (i'm also diabetic) so tying to manage both weight and blood sugars is lot of fun! LOL I just need to find that happy balance. I am grateful for your help!