Gary, how are things today - any better? I know when my husband was in the hospital for his first week of chemo/rad treatment back in late September - all was going relatively well for awhile. He was on Cisplatin and 5-FU, and getting daily 15 minute rad sessions. He was tired and weakened by it by the weeks end - but he did not have any setbacks until he got out of the hospital that week. Overnight he developed pneumonia and congestive heart failure as a result of the pneumonia - and had to go back to the hospital the next day. It was rough. But he got through that, and in mid October went back to the hospital for his 2nd week of chemo/rad treatments which went a whole lot better overall. He of course was very tired and weak and lost a lot of weight by then - but these are some "normal" things to be expected from what I have heard. But since then he has been doing pretty good overall. I know it's going to be rough for you going through this - but you gotta be strong and keep telling yourself that things will get better. They will - it just takes time. Hang in there and best wishes for a quick recovery!

Hello Gary,
thank you for the update! I've been following your posts, but could not contribute any treatment wisdom...
I am sorry to hear you are feeling so sick, and wish I could provide you with some advice, but I haven't been there. So, all I can offer is to keep you in my thoughts, knowing there are a lot of caring members out there who will be glad to help. It's easy for me to say this (what do I know), but hang in there

Just an update -this week has been a complete turnaround! Feeling great, eating well, no N/V. I was prescribed Famotidine (antacid) and that seems to be doing the trick. The advice nurse told me it was the acid level in my stomach that caused the problem. And the tumor has melted dramatically.

ALLRIGHT GARY - WAY TO GO!!!!

Melt those bad boys away....

Glad you are feeling better, too...sounds as if you are getting great carre and advise.

Dinah

Well Gary, it looks like I posted too quickly. Thanks for the update and glad to hear things are going well. Eat your favorite fatty food now and enjoy it! Keep us posted. We're all here rooting for you. SIncerely, Donna

Hi Gary,
glad to hear your are feeling soooo much better! Amazing what a simple antacid can do. I knew you would kick back.

Great to hear that you are feeling better! Three cheers to Antacid!!

Just completed week three of radiation and I am still able to eat most foods. Thanks to all of you and this site, I have taken all of the advice and it has helped get me through this. I'm using all of the Biotene stuff, putting hard round cotton things between the sides of my mouth and tongue (I was getting radiation burns from the side scatter off of my gold crowns), bought a humidifier, etc. I anticipate next week things will be very different as I have my second (and last) cisplatin chemo treatment. I have 20 more radiation treatments to go. Last week I also had an infection on my neck that required a weeks worth of Diflucan and Amoxicillin - but it seems under control now.

Gary, I am glad to hear that you are tolerating things well, though you may be on the cusp of the time and amount of radiation accumulation when things really start to get sore. Lets hope that the future goes as easily as the beginning. I am curious about the idea of putting cotton pads in your mouth to reduce radiation exposure. Personally I find this an unlikely way to prevent radiation, scatter or otherwise, from reaching the soft tissues. As an example, I offer this story...

When I was first starting to get nuked, I was concerned about the amount of radiation the rest of my body was receiving, in particular the family jewels. I mean, even when you go get a couple of x-rays at the dentist they put a lead apron on you to protect things, right? So on the day of my first encounter with nuclear medicine, I asked my radiation doctor and techs if I shouldn't have a lead apron on before they began each treatment. They said that given the about of radiation that I was going to get, that a lead apron would have about as much protective power as a Kleenex when it came to protection from the scatter radiation that was going to be bouncing around the treatment room with me. Just think about this, and the distance your privates are from your mouth and the radiation. The walls of the treatment room have 3 inches of lead in them and a foot of concrete to protect those in the area. Even low amounts of radiation go through bone to expose film and produce x-rays. What do you suppose a cotton ball is going to do? Just food for thought, and something you might ask your doctor to explain. When he does, I

Hi Brian,
strangely enough my tongue has healed up nicely (it was getting burned so bad that it felt like it was shot with novacaine) but it hasn't made much of a difference on the inside of my cheeks where the blisters get bigger everyday. My mouth and throat conditions are deteriorating rapidly and by tomorrow I am sure that I will be using the "Millers" Solution. I also got a Waterpik (from a suggestion from someone on the site) and it's working well for me also. I think also that I will be switching to the canned food pretty quickly to make sure I'm getting enough calories.