When does only moving forward starts?

Options
Sam999
Sam999 Member Posts: 319 Member
in Head and Neck Cancer #1
After a very tough two weeks after rads were finished, i had started to feel better for last 2-3 days. Everything has turned back since last night, dont know why. Coughing/ hecking is back. No matter what i drinnk (milk, smoothie, butter milk, water), throat feels dry in 10 mins and i start with a dry cough that hurts my throat.

Is this normal or something is wrong?

I also keep losing weight, i had some weight that i could lost but i am reaching a point where more weight loss can be bad. I am 18 days since rads finished.

Two weeks after rads were all coughing (bloody mucus many times), thrrowing up because of mucus, not having good night sleep.

It is hard to eat and throw up takes away some of this nutrition!

I feel like i am back to the week when rads where done. At what point do we stop going backwards?

Also anyone else suffering from this dry dry coughing?

Thanks,
Sam

Comments

  • phrannie51
    phrannie51 Member Posts: 4,716
    #2
    Options
    I don't know when that moment is, Sam....
    ...I finished rads about a week ahead of you....and I'm doing a tailspin right now too. What we DO know is this "after rads" time is the worse for many (and I'm starting to suspect it's the worse for MOST)...the only saving grace is we don't have to attend to radiation everyday.

    I got the "hack and cough" back too....twice now, and it only lasts a couple of days, and then goes away again. I'm sure it'll reappear down the road, for another couple of days. After 3 chemo treatments that went smoothly, the 4th one kicked my butt down the block and back...another why now question!??

    Anyway, my philosophy on how I'm going to get thru this part is the exact same as how I got thru the amifostine and rads...one foot in front of the other, and one day at a time...keep my expectaions low, and accept I'm going to get better by degrees, not by leaps and bounds. It's hard to not to get disappointed when we do one step forward, two back...but more than we realize we've done many "2 steps forward and only one back"...Just got to ride this like a green colt...appreciate when it's going smooth, and hang on to our butts when the ride gets rough...KNOWING that it's only going to be rough for a short time, before it smooths out again.....and it WILL, I promise!!

    p
  • MarineE5
    MarineE5 Member Posts: 1,030 Member
    #3
    Options
    Time range
    Sam and P51,

    We "Cook" for a period of roughly 4-8 weeks after our last treatments. That is the time frame that my Radiation Oncologist gave me as a time line. If I remember correctly, the first time I tasted anything was about the 4-5 weeks out of treatment. Dairy products seemed to cause me allot of mucus, so I limited my intake of that.

    I slowly and that is the key word for many, slowly started to get energy back one day a week for a while, then it was two days a week. So, basically, you both are not out of the woods just yet, but will see the clearing soon.

    My Best to Both of You and Everyone Here
  • hwt
    hwt Member Posts: 2,328 Member
    #4
    Options
    MarineE5 said:

    Time range
    Sam and P51,

    We "Cook" for a period of roughly 4-8 weeks after our last treatments. That is the time frame that my Radiation Oncologist gave me as a time line. If I remember correctly, the first time I tasted anything was about the 4-5 weeks out of treatment. Dairy products seemed to cause me allot of mucus, so I limited my intake of that.

    I slowly and that is the key word for many, slowly started to get energy back one day a week for a while, then it was two days a week. So, basically, you both are not out of the woods just yet, but will see the clearing soon.

    My Best to Both of You and Everyone Here

    Timing
    Of course we are all different, in my case, I saw improvement week 2 but then in week 3 had some hair loss but sores on lips healed so was happy for that trade off. Had a few insignificant dry cough spells that were short lived. If I recall, week 4 was uneventful and I felt like I had turned the corner week 5 and felt full of energy week 6. Will be 8 weeks this week. Hope and pray you will turn the corner very soon.
  • longtermsurvivor
    longtermsurvivor Member Posts: 1,842 Member
    #5
    Options
    two steps forward, one back
    Sam,

    I had to go back on a liquid diet fourteen weeks out from rads. Mouth got too sore to chew. One week offmthe solid food, then good enough to resume. I have no idea why that happened. I still use a little magic mouthwash almost every day, now 18 weeks out. This too will end.


    Pat
  • Sam999
    Sam999 Member Posts: 319 Member
    #6
    Options
    longtermsurvivor said:

    two steps forward, one back
    Sam,

    I had to go back on a liquid diet fourteen weeks out from rads. Mouth got too sore to chew. One week offmthe solid food, then good enough to resume. I have no idea why that happened. I still use a little magic mouthwash almost every day, now 18 weeks out. This too will end.


    Pat

    Thanks everyone for the
    Thanks everyone for the support. It is so hard to go thru this setbacks, i was on the verge of tears so many times today, reading everyone's response lifted my spirits. Thanks a bunch everyone.

    Sam
  • Laralyn
    Laralyn Member Posts: 532
    #7
    Options
    One step forward, one step back
    My radiation oncologist warned me that the weeks after treatment would feel like that, improvement then a setback. He said the setbacks would start getting less and less frequent over time... And that is exactly what I have experienced... but it is slow going for sure.

    I'm sorry it's rough for you right now. Hopefully it will even out soon! We're all rooting for you, Sam!
  • Tim6003
    Tim6003 Member Posts: 1,514 Member
    #8
    Options
    Laralyn said:

    One step forward, one step back
    My radiation oncologist warned me that the weeks after treatment would feel like that, improvement then a setback. He said the setbacks would start getting less and less frequent over time... And that is exactly what I have experienced... but it is slow going for sure.

    I'm sorry it's rough for you right now. Hopefully it will even out soon! We're all rooting for you, Sam!

    Hi Sam..
    Every person is different ..

    My last tx was Jan 20th 2012. The first 8 weeks after that were tough, the immediate 4 weeks after tx were brutal...and I mean brutal.

    The last four weeks have been really great for me. Lot's of energy and stuff...then around mid-June my throat started hurting ....not bad, but hurting none-the-less...
    I just saw my onc. July 3 because my throat was really hurting and sore, my tongue had a few spots (raised little spots that are the same color as my tongue) and I wanted to know if I had thrush....

    ...oncologist said he was not concerned about the spots, scoped me and all looked good..he just attributed it all to dry mouth and stated again to me how bad of a reaction I had to Erbitux ...and that he felt all was just part of the healing back and forth...

    So I think you sound right there normal and you will be out of it soon .... :)

    You are one of many I have on my nightly prayer list :):) ...so keep going ...

    Best,

    Tim

Discussion Boards