Chemotherapy drugs for tongue cancer.

post surg
Rahul:

I also had surgery to remove cancer from my tongue, along with a radical neck dissection where tainted lymph nodes were discovered. Subsequently I received 33 of a scheduled 35 radiation treatments (every weekday for seven weeks), along with several doses of chemotherapy in the form of cisplatin.

When the chemotherapy was provided, it was in the form of a mixture including benadryl, (ostensibly to help me relax and even drowse during the treatment), decadron (a steroid I was told would aide in reducing nausea), and one other that slips my mind at the moment.

In any event, in my case the cisplatin made me very nauseous for a couple of days following treatment. Please be advised, however, that different folks handle these drugs differently, and, in fact, even in the relatively brief time since I was administered this chemotherapy (late 2005 into January of 2006) improvements have been made in dosage considerations, frequency, 'ingredients', and so forth. Your dad's effects may be easy to handle, we can hope.

As for nutrition, when my original surgery was done a peg tube was inserted directly into the stomach, allowing me to ingest nutrition through that, since eating was not possible for some time (they actually replaced half of my tongue, which may have complicated things).

I would assume that if dad can swallow, items such as Ensure and Boost, yogurt, ice cream, broths, would all be good possibilities. Hopefully, though, you have access to a nutritionist who can assist dad and his family in developing a sound program for maintaining appropriate nutritional levels, depending on his unique capabilities and condition.

Good luck to dad, and best wishes to him and his entire family.

Take care,

Joe