Just to follow up on Amy's post (since the phrase "loss of weight from radiation" came from my post up above) -- I have to agree with Amy that it's not totally within your control. When I went through radiation, I was 39 and in otherwise excellent health and was warned well in advance by my RO about the potential for weight loss. I told him I was going to be different -- that I never miss a meal and I was going to tough it out and do whatever it took to keep my weight up. I'm a good cook, and I took it as a challenge to try to find ways to come up with nutritious meals that were soft (tending toward semi-liquid) that would meet my calorie quota. When I needed more calories beyond that, I had plenty of Carnation Instant Breakfast to supplement it. Contrary to the experiences of many others here, I don't think I ever had to fight nausea during my treatment, although I had plenty of "hacking up" bad stuff that came with radiation.

My weight pre-treatment was somewhere around 128-130; at the end of radiation my low was around 112. Based on what I've read here, I think that's not too bad, and I can't claim that I looked emaciated by the time it was over, but it was definitely enough to be a noticeable change for people who knew me well.

Cathy

I stand corrected!

I was basing my statement on only my own experience (in which the actual cancer had been already removed by surgery prior to radiation) and no concurrent chemo.

I certainly got the impression from the nurses that I was the one controlling my weight, and it would be by the calories I poured down the tube (presuming I retained them), but perhaps they screen out the folks whose circumstances wouldn't allow them to do that as not being candidates for the Amifostine.

In my case, when I followed the dietician's instructions to a T, I retained my weight and when I later cut somewhat back on the number of bottles/calories, I slowly lost weight.