Hi everyone!
My husband has just finished 7 weeks of radiation and 3 doses of cysplatin after a partial glossectomy, neck dissection, and reconstruction with forearm free flap.
James had his last chemo on Tuesday and his last radiation treatment Thursday. On Saturday, he started feeling really bad, in a lot of pain. His radiation oncologist said the next 10 days would be tough, but I'm looking for any advice or words of wisdom.
He's having a very difficult time drinking anything. He has a g-tube, but everytime he uses it, it makes him very nauseous a short time later and he ends up vomiting most of what he's taken in. I told him last night that he needed to get something in, but putting anything in his mouth is unbearable, and using the tube makes him very sick. He did manage to get in some Gatorade through the tube.
I know he is very tired and frustrated right now. I would love to share with him any thoughts you all might have. Thanks so much in advance for your help!

Hi & Congrats on your husband finishing treatment. Yes - this is a rough time since the radiation and chemo both continue to work after treatment.

The best thing I can tell you is to go to the top of this page, FAQ's - or the search engine - the peg has been discussed at lenght and I know there was advise for questions just like yours. There are some very good descriptions of what and how to do things that should help a lot.

Please keep us posted on his progress and I hope he starts feeling better soon.

Take care,
Dinah

Hi, and also congrats on your husband on finishing treatment.

The first 10 to 14 days your husband probably will be in a lot of pain, but it does get better, really it does. In my case, the pain got so bad I wound up having to stop radiation for a week and be admitted back into the hospital for introvenous tube feeding, re-hydration, and was on morphine for a week. Conttrast to the second time I've gone through this, they didn't have to nuke my tongue, just my neck on the opposite side from the first time, and other than a lot of little irritaing side effects, not much of a big dea.

Don't have any experience with the PEG tube, didn't get one either time, but as Dinah said, do a search and you probably will find the answer you are looking for. I know my stomach doesn't like chocolate Ensure very well, but I can do the vanilla ok. I don't know if its' standard practice to do PEG tube foods at room temperature, but if the liquid is cold, can cause problems also I would suspect.

Anyway, Like I said earlier, it does get better, beleive it or not. As bad as I was, 4 weeks after I finished I was able to go back to work half days.

I feel very strongly that no one should be in "a lot of pain" -- one does not heal well when in pain. Please call your doctor and get whatever it takes to help your husband. I could take nothing by mouth, but transdermal Fentnyl (sp?) patches were little miracles that allowed me to be pain free until the burns healed. I second the suggestion to read the lengthy discussions about PEG feeding, but in brief, have him sit up like he is eating at a table, feed him very, very slowly from the gravity bag, not with a syringe, and finally, have him stay sitting up for at least an hour after eating. This will usually take care of most nausea problems. Finally, know that very soon you and he will see improvement on a daily basis. The really tough part is behind you and I send sincere congratulations to both of you for hanging in there! Come back often and let us know how you and James are doing.
Joanna