Bell Ringer

LumpinmyThroat
LumpinmyThroat Member Posts: 98
in Head and Neck Cancer #1

Hubby rang the bell yesterday!  We are home now.  He asked me to ask you all how long it will be before he starts to feel a little better?  He did 9 rounds of chemo and 33 rx.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Comments

  • thennies61
    thennies61 Member Posts: 285
    #2
    Congrads...little by little

    Congrads...little by little everyday he start to feel better...get lots of rest and eat...

  • jackflash22
    jackflash22 Member Posts: 524 Member
    #3
    Ding ding

    bet your both feeling over the moon now the rads have finished. It's still a bit rough for a couple of weeks but it's onwards and upwards. Little by little he will feel better,   I expect he feels so much better now the rads are behind him. Mucous was my main problem for some months. He will feel tired so do as much as he can but don't push it, rest a lot, try to walk each day, gently exercise helps to recovery, drink a lot.  I read a lot of books while recovering, helped to lose myself in them. best of luck.......

  • phrannie51
    phrannie51 Member Posts: 4,716
    #4
    For the next couple of weeks

    things will seem like nothing has changed, except he doesn't have to leave home to head for rads.....he'll still be cooking from the rads he's already had.....THEN....slowly and surely things begin to improve.  For many of us it's 3 steps forward, one back for a while....patience is the key for this part of recovery. 

    Tell him not to get discouraged....truly, healing is a month and week thing, not a daily thing.....like the flu would be. 

    p

    PS....I'm still seeing improvements 2 years out!

  • wmc
    wmc Member Posts: 1,804
    #5
    Ring that Bell........

    Great news, ring the bell......... Little by little, but enjoy your weekend and Congrats.

  • CivilMatt
    CivilMatt Member Posts: 4,722 Member
    #6
    finished

    LinT,

    Mentally feeling better today.  Physically feeling better soon.  He is now on H&N time and our clocks are notoriously  slow.

    Keep drinking water and swallowing often, I mean try and relax and enjoy life around you.

    Now I must go and ring my bell for you before it gets dark.

    Congratulations!

    Matt

  • Jeff2159
    Jeff2159 Member Posts: 108
    #7
    Ding Dong

    35 rads and 3 chemo here-- 9 chemos? wow thats what did me in was the carboplatin 5-fu. It took another 3 weeks for me to reach rock bottom but then there was improvement. It took me 3 months to finally feel human and every week got better. Keep hydrated and dry to swallow as much as possible. take your pain meds if you have to to stay comfortable.

     

    Jeff

  • debbiejeanne
    debbiejeanne Member Posts: 3,102 Member
    #8
    fantastic!!  it all gets

    fantastic!!  it all gets better from here.  it could take months for him to feel well again so he will have to be patient.  but tx is over and that means he's on the road to recovery!  so glad for you and your hubby.

    God bless,

    dj

  • yensid683
    yensid683 Member Posts: 349
    #9
    Yes!!!!

    a significant milepost on the road to recovery, it felt great when I rang that bell more than two years ago.

    Recovery is a slow process.  As Phrannie said, he will continue to 'cook' (my RO used that exact phrase) for two weeks post rads but one morning he will wake up and not feel quite so bad as he does now. 

    Recovery was a very slow process for me, but for others it is much faster.  I was able to be functional in about 2 months, but still had issues with stamina.  It was not until a year later that I was back to my pre-cancer physical activities.

    the good news at this point is I'm still NED some two years out, taste came back 100%, saliva varies, sometimes it seems like 100% normal but usually it is around 80%.  I can eat almost anything and have perfected the art of balancing bites of food with sips of water. 

    Hang in there, it does get better!

  • Hondo
    Hondo Member Posts: 6,636 Member
    #10
    Ring the Bell

    I have a very old Ship Bell in my office made of solid Brass and when you ring it everyone in the building can hear it beautiful sound. I am glad you got to ring your bell as a sign of reaching the finish line. On healing it takes time and no one heals the same, little by little things will start to get better, for me it was 3 months before I could first taste anything for others I head anything from 1 month to a year. It is all part of our new normal.

     

    Tim Hondo

  • TracyLynn72
    TracyLynn72 Member Posts: 839
    #11
    Congrats!!

    Ringing that bell is an amazing feeling!!  Recovery is slow (and I'm impatient!!) but it does come! 

  • LumpinmyThroat
    LumpinmyThroat Member Posts: 98
    #12
    Thanks to All

    We are 5 days post-treatment now.  He is eating a little tiny bit more each day.  His hair is making an amazing comeback too!  I didn't expect that so quickly.  The radiation burn around his neck is horrendous.  They were dressing them for him after each treatment for the last 2 weeks, but didn't seem to think they were abnormal.  

    He says that burn is the worst part of everything.  I hope it starts to heal soon.  He is thinking about making an appt with a burn and wound center locally to maybe help it along... I don't know what to expect as I do not know how these burns typically heal.  He looks to others for reassurance about it, but I'm so clueless?

  • CivilMatt
    CivilMatt Member Posts: 4,722 Member
    #13
    LumpinmyThroat said:

    Thanks to All

    We are 5 days post-treatment now.  He is eating a little tiny bit more each day.  His hair is making an amazing comeback too!  I didn't expect that so quickly.  The radiation burn around his neck is horrendous.  They were dressing them for him after each treatment for the last 2 weeks, but didn't seem to think they were abnormal.  

    He says that burn is the worst part of everything.  I hope it starts to heal soon.  He is thinking about making an appt with a burn and wound center locally to maybe help it along... I don't know what to expect as I do not know how these burns typically heal.  He looks to others for reassurance about it, but I'm so clueless?

    i swear by it

    LinmyT,

    Silver Sulfadiazine Cream!

    Neck burn was the worst pain I had.  The above cream took all the pain way.  Really!

    It is a bit messy, but who cares, the stuff works.

    Get the 200 gram container not the 50 gram.

    Good luck!

    Matt

  • LumpinmyThroat
    LumpinmyThroat Member Posts: 98
    #14
    CivilMatt said:

    i swear by it

    LinmyT,

    Silver Sulfadiazine Cream!

    Neck burn was the worst pain I had.  The above cream took all the pain way.  Really!

    It is a bit messy, but who cares, the stuff works.

    Get the 200 gram container not the 50 gram.

    Good luck!

    Matt

    Silver Cream

    Matt!  Thank you.  I relayed this message to him and expect his request for a container of it shortly :)

  • debbiejeanne
    debbiejeanne Member Posts: 3,102 Member
    #15
    LumpinmyThroat said:

    Thanks to All

    We are 5 days post-treatment now.  He is eating a little tiny bit more each day.  His hair is making an amazing comeback too!  I didn't expect that so quickly.  The radiation burn around his neck is horrendous.  They were dressing them for him after each treatment for the last 2 weeks, but didn't seem to think they were abnormal.  

    He says that burn is the worst part of everything.  I hope it starts to heal soon.  He is thinking about making an appt with a burn and wound center locally to maybe help it along... I don't know what to expect as I do not know how these burns typically heal.  He looks to others for reassurance about it, but I'm so clueless?

    hey, lump, congrats on

    hey, lump, congrats on finishing tx.  job well done by him.  i used aquaphor and it worked a miracle on my burns.  praying he finds something that will heal his neck quickly.

    God bless you,

    dj

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