ladyjoe,

As you see I only had the cisplatin during the rad but I only had 2 nodes involved. Ask your MO to explain the benefits and maybe get a second opinion but don't let a bit more torture get in the way of a chance to kick his cancer back to hell.

In 6 months he won't remember the daily details of discomfort but he will remember and feel good about his efforts to conquer this virus that's trying to kill him. He's come this far so tell him to suck it up a little longer and finish his job.

ok... we had 2 dr. appts this week, family and rad. drs. They both seem to agree to continue on with the additional chemo. They told my husband you are running a race and have the best horse why change horses into the race. So.. he is still deciding. Rad dr. told him he shouldn'have as much difficulty cause he is done with the rads. Needs to continue to swallow, his throat is still extremly sore. Gained 3 lbs. yea!! He did manage to swallow 2 bites of creamed rice yesterday. Today he wants to try a scrambled egg. Praying he can tolerate it. Thanks for listening.

Hi, LJ and Yeah for the 3 lbs.! The discription of "running a race" sounds pretty accurate.Some suggestions in the foods he might be able to swallow: poached eggs, angelhair pasta with a thin cream\cheese sauce, pureed brocalli-cauliflower soup in milk or cream base-oatmeal thinned with water and mllk. Please let us know how he is doing with food. There ae a bunch of good recipes on this forum.Amy in Oz

Well, we didn't do the egg. he said he was just to sore to try. I am at my wits end. I know this is tough but you have to try. He tells me I don't have a clue what it is like. I am a 7 yr. breast survivor and had 37 rads but no chemo. so I don't know about the chemo.I was extremly tired with the rads so I can sympathize in that. Oh well, thanks for listening. Tomorrow is a new day!

Lady J,

Get him some Carnation VHC.

Another step in the right direction. Husband asked for a scrambled egg this evening and actually swallowed 4 bites! I am so thrilled. He said he can swallow but it burns like hell going down. I told him its a start. He aslo had some friends come over this afternoon. It did him wonders. He was so adamant about no visitors! but my brother aarranged for 4 of his friends to come at the same time for 15 min. His face just lit up! So today is a good day after all.
David, I do have the Carnation VHC. Hopefully he will try that too. Thanks.

LJ, You might ask his Doc about something like Lidocaine 2% viscous solution to use before he eats. It is a pain numbing med.that is swished and swallowed. It [or something similiar] might make swallowing easier and cut down on the burning. Hooray for getting the bites of egg down!
39 rad txs are not easy to recover from. Keep cooking and be forewarned that you will throw lots of things out. Amy in the Ozarks

ok, we're stil taking small bites of food. Yesterday he had a few buttered noodles and said he could actually taste them a bit . But thats good. Still haven't decided if he is going on with the chemo pump. Have to make a decision this week.Hanging in there.....

Rob is on the small bites regime at the moment,and one day he even had a piece of Salmon with white sauce,but boy is it a slow process.I find it very hard to work out why one day he will try food and the next day he wont.Its very frustrating and like you i just feel "well i dont know how it feels so i shouldnt nag him"After a brilliant few days we are back to depression withdrawal and not eating anything- god i hate this damn disease.

Keep strong
Liz in the UK

Liz,

Robin is only 5 weeks post Tx. His body is still suffering a lot right now and his recovery will be ever so slow and I'm sure his drinking and smoking won't help that process at all.

We all are hoping/dreaming that the next time we want to eat something it will taste exactly just like our mind remembers it. Unfortunately mentally we build ourselves up thinking it will and when we put it into our mouth, ugh and we realize again that we are not tasting normal and we wonder will we ever. What I'm trying to say is that mentally we are beat up everytime we go to eat and some days we just don't want to get disappointed and reminded how unpleasant it is to eat. Add to that the discomfort associated with the recovery period and you can really not look forward to meal time.

I am almost 9 months post Tx and I still fool myself into thinking I want a pizza and it will taste just like I remember so I will eventually get a pizza only to be disappointed again. This happens less now only because I have beat myself up so many times I'm getting used to a new normal taste but at least I still remember what things used to taste like and I hope that never goes away even if my taste doesn't fully return.

Give him time and continue to be saintly patient.