husband has 4 more radiation treatments. What happens once he is done? PET scans, doctor appts, etc? How long until cancer is gone if treatment was successful? just curious what this all looks like.

BTW...except for sleeping a lot and spitting out saliva, no one would probably know he is going through treatment. He doesn't complain of a sore throat and once that feeding tube got replaced, he seems pretty normal. He's not one to hide feeling badly so I have to assume he doesn't feel too badly. He just started using pain medication last week (week 6). He has a voice some days and other days no voice. He can still drive himself any time he feels like it and does. So much for doctor saying it's like a 100 times a sunburn in his throat and it's the worse thing they could do to a human....it's been nothing like that. It was so much worse with the feeding tube and the first chemo treatment. The rest has not been so bad. (he might beg to differ! just my observations.)

He will have to wait a few weeks for the swelling from the radiation to dissipate before he gets a scan. At that point you will find out if the treatment is successful. Thereafter, there will be call-backs every few weeks.

I read years ago that tobacco deadens the nerves so that smokers may get silent heart attacks, which means they don’t feel the chest pains when they have a heart attack. If this is possible, maybe your husband doesn’t feel as much pain as others because of his tobacco use? It’s just conjecture on my part.

thank you Gloria. Interesting thought about pain. I've been doing some extraneous reading this weekend about the future after cancer treatment and trying to sort it out. A local person survived 14 yrs after BOT cancer and then died of a sudden heart attack according to my friend. You could be on to something there.

The mucositis will persist for several weeks or months after treatment. Throat pain will persist and normal eating will take many weeks, since he is on a feeding tube, that might be left in for a while, those who have had one can advise. I am almost 5 months post radiation treatment. I am eating normally although things don't taste normal and still have some mucous problems and dry mouth persists. I just had a PET scan and am on a once a month doctor visit. This will be his life for a while, like years. Good luck.

thanks DeniseG. The nurse told him 2-4 months of feeding tube after treatment but now that they fixed the tube issue, it shouldn't be as bad as the last 7 weeks of dealing with pain and leakage.

Sounds like you are on the road to recovery!