Single Digits

getting into the single digits was great for me....I could finally do a daily countdown, and see myself coming to the end of radiation....

What is this?  You've been here since May, and never heard about our bionic noses?  My nose got so good I could rival my German Shepherd in the field....I don't remember it being totally unpleasent, tho.....I did get a lot of deja vu during that time.

I feel for him on the constipation....it can get so bad....a true PITA.   I took Colace....3 of them everyday....to try to avoid it, but it was still bad....I could count on a twice a week, one hour trek in the bathroom....wishing I had a piece of leather to bite down on....

His tumor could be gone by now.....I know I wasn't done with radiation when my ENT could no longer see a tumor.....and the lump in my neck went away within the first 3 weeks of rads.  I still had a lot of treatment to go even then, tho....that would have been in June, and I still was getting chemo treatments till the end of August.  About three months after he finishes treatment they will give him another PET scan, to make sure it is all gone.

p

shawn, hitting the single digits is a big deal and something to celebrate!!  it won't b long now and u and ur brother will b ringing that bell!  we look forward 2 seeing the post saying u rang the bell. 

dj

I had concurrent radiation and chemo treatment followed by 3 months of chemo for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (no surgery).

I too had hyper sensitive smell. That was a problem, because I could smell the food, but couldn’t taste it. I was also able to detect the ozone-like smell released during the radiation session.

Constipation was a problem, my hemorrhoids got very swollen because of that. This went away once I was able to eat real food.

In my case I knew the treatment was working right away. I had large lymph nodes each side of the cervical (neck) area; the largest was 4.5 cm long on the right side. I was able to palpate it easily. I can tell you that it shrank to half the second day after cisplatin! 3 weeks later, after the second cisplatin session, I was no longer able to feel it. The radiation also must have contributed, but the first dose of cisplatin was administered the 3^rd day after radiation started, so the chemo alone did that initial shrinkage. I was amazed, it was acting very fast.

sin9775 said:

Healing

Corleone,

The truth is, I live in a different state than my brother.  When I last visited him, he was only a week into treatments.  His neck was definitely still swollen when I left him.  I haven't actually asked him about it lately.  It is so hard to understand his low raspy voice over the phone, that I keep my questions to a minimum and the little stinker is not getting on line to communicate with his sibs.  I do know that he is still constantly "clearing" his throat just like he was before any tx started.  This could be from mucus, I suppose, but he hasn't complained about that.  I just don't know.  I guess I'll put my little detective side to work.

I feel very good after reading your reply.  Thanks!

~S~

I wasn’t able to speak the last week of radiation treatment and 1 week post. That’s because of the pain, dry mouth, etc. At that time I communicated only in writing and my wife was doing all the talk for me. I guess she regretted those times, once I started speaking again!