Mike, good to hear that the Erbitux isn't that bad for you. We can't make John's rash go away. But he has never had hiccups As to taste issues - it seems to be different for everyone. So keep experimenting and keep eating. It sounds like you are doing well . Amy

Amy -

I don't know if your husband is taking anything for the rash but Doxycycline is what helped me. It's an antibiotic. Tends to dry out the skin but that better than the acne.

Thanks, Mike, John took a round of Doxycycline last month- helped a little but not much. The Chemo Doc has reduced his dose down a bit to see if that will help.

Mike,

I think you may get a range of responses about the length of time it takes for taste buds to come back -- it's hard to generalize about what to expect on that score.

In my case, it took many months, and it was a gradual process -- some taste buds returned sooner than others. In the meantime, you can't let your diet be limited to what "tastes good", since virtually nothing does. You need to be sure you're getting a balanced diet with plenty of calories (whether by mouth or by tube) to give your system the best shot at recovery.

Cathy

Hi Mike,

The first thing that came back for Jack was salty foods - he started tasting that around 6 weeks. It took another month for sweet tastes to kick in. At 4 months he was able to taste pretty much everything. Try scrambled eggs and cream cheese. Sounds gross but Jack was able to taste that first.

As Cathy said, it's very hard to generalize but don't be discouraged if it doesn't happen quickly. You've done so well with the treatments that I am really hoping this will go the same way.

Be very careful to monitor your weight after treatment, that's when Jack actually felt worse and you need to maintain nutrition/hydration to recover.

Glad to hear you're doing well.
Regards JoAnne

I'm not sure about this but it seems like cases where the primary site is a tonsil, taste seems to come back faster than cases where the primary site is the tongue, especially with IMRT. I guess when the tongue is the primary site being radiated, there is more trauma to the taste buds.

Mike, I think you may be correct about that because my tongue was uninvolved and my notes indicate that one month from end of treatment I ate and tasted a whole jelly donut (nutrition not being a priority at that point). I remember eating cases of Campbells chicken noodle soup before that, as I could taste the salt, and the noodles slid down easily. As far as I know, the order in which taste returns is the same for everyone -- salt first, sweet last.

One other suggestion -- I didn't need pain meds until the last week, but I really DID need them then. Stubborn to the end, I thought I could handle it but when I went into shock, was overruled (grin). So be prepared to ask if you need it.