Merry Christmas, Bill    Yes it will pass!  Each of us has a diff schedule but the disgusia and the rest does ease with time.     Looking at 6 months past ny last chemo...and now fighting round 2 with alternative means, let me say Be Thankful for that 100% energy level you speak of having.  My energy and will is just coming back but it's happening daily.    About that thrush, mouth sores and stringy stuff-keep that mouth clean with baking soda gargle...do it hourly if you have to and don't even think of catching a nap without gargling.  Eventually you can try alternating with peroxide.    For me, peroxide mouthwash seem to disagree with my mouth sores so I stuck to baking soda with minimal salt (salt was painful too).    I didn't go the tube route (vanity, really) and paid one hell of a high price (6 months later, still haven't gained an ounce of the 25lbs I lost).    Mouth and throat cleanliness is paramount AND do google "swallowing exercises for cancer patients" or such.  Do them religiously!  Moving those muscles will help with your overall program for mouth and throat ckeanliness and health.    Hang in there and be agressive about doing what you can to improve whatever little part of you can be regained.    Cheers,   Joe Aristy ... View more

Hi Rick...    I did consider trying the blog thing but, after insurance running out and my deciding to pretty much let things take their course...I found that I had no way of knowing whether the new problems arising by the 6th month were chemo/Rad related or the cancer returning.    My neck and face became pretty swollen, and somewhat disfigured and once again swallowing and eating was becoming problematic.  I pretty much decided to let it take its course and check out when eating became too painful to try.     A couple of weeks ago a friend asked me to google fenbendazole and Joe Tippens.  Research on Fenvendazole lead me to trying this.   I'm on Day 4, and can only report that my ability to move my neck vertically and laterally has suddenly dramatically improved.  My appettite has also improved, though my ability to swallow and the accompanying pain are still the same.    I will be happy to share the specifics of my findings on a personal basis as I journey through this 3 month experiment if asked.  My email is googling1757@gmail.com.    The reason why I hesitate to post a blog on this group is...I have no clue where this experiment will lead and none of us here need false hope.    The research on Fenbendazole looks pretty convincing, however, and I was sinking with no help in sight...     I will certainly share everything I document for the asking!    Cheers, Joe Aristy ... View more

Hi Everybody!    I am curious if anyone has tried making changes on your diet as a means to fighting depression.      Going at it simply-like eating a certain type of green, cutting out this or that dairyb etc. For a week or two and checking how it affects both the body and the mind.   There's plenty of info (and disinformation) in the internet...and as individuals, what works for some may not apply to others but I have found that certain food items can have a strong enough effect on my mental outlook .    Cheers, Joe ... View more

Hi Capt'n...    Sorry to hear it's trying to mess with you again.     Came across a fellow named Joe Tippen and research on a product called Fenbendazole...decided to become a guinea pig since my throat ulcer has been getting progressively worse.    My email is Googling1757@gmail.com if you'd like to keep track of how this goes.   Cheers, Joe ... View more

Hey, Astro! Can you describe the symptoms of your throat condition? Any physical swelling or disfigurement? Does the pain spike after eating? Does the swelling limits and screws with your ability to swallow? And the pain-when mine spikes I gargle with peroxide then with baking soda and it tones it down considerably. At times, the pain reminds me of getting a chicken bone (or nacho chip?) Stuck in my throat. At times it just burns like Hades. I'd appreciate hearing about your condition and comparing notes. Joe ... View more

Hey, Astro...    After my last chemo and rad, and the chopped liver mouth and throat (and Thrush) cleaning up...it took two months before the ulceration in my throat returned.    By that time my insurance and money had run out so I said "screw it, live or die I'll do without doctors and make the best of it."   Foolish, but there it is.    It's 6 months down the pike and the throat has gotten progressively worse, my neck is rather disfigured and motion either vertical or horizontal is quite limited.  And yes, that ulcer pain in my throat spikes so I live on Motrin (high pain tolerance-I danced thru chemo and rad on acetaminophen).   Frankly, being totally in the dark medically and scan wise, I pretty much feel I'm at the end of the Line (nights are getting pretty unbearable and whatever Get Up and Go I had is long gone, throat swelling is worsening, etc. Etc.).    Let me share this-I just came across something curious, and will begin it this week.  Google Joe Tippens and Fenbendazole.    NEVER GIVE UP!  or at least hang in there to see if this stuff works for me.   Joe Aristy     ... View more

Hi    Absolutely agree with Kj on changing counselors!    Anyone who has to live intimately with cancer has to be agressive in his or her fight against negativity!   It night be said that that for too many of us, we walk next to the precipice from the moment we waken, and exposing ourselves to the winds of negativity does naught but increase our uncertainty and, yes, fear.     ... View more

Hi Chriss...    I am 62 going on 63 in a few.  I was fortunate to literally dance thru the chemo and Radio weeks on just acetaminophen pretty much due to a high tolerance for pain.    From week 5 on life was hell...and after treatments, it simply got worse.  The side effects, the loss of strength, inability to gain weight.  Lymphoedema on neck and throat...No insurance and unable to work, so no way to get medial help or advice except Internet info and disinfo.    Is the cancer back?  Was the question first thing in the morning and last before bed...the over and over as I struggled with pain no longer ameliorated by acetaminophen.   Scary and yes depressing to feel less than a man for a loving wife.  I sometimes came across those two bottles of oxycontin (never opened) and mused that putting an end to the uncertainty, pain and fears would be easy enough.    I mean-to live so far below one's potential, where even eating became a challenge, no energy, no drive, no socializing to speak of, inability to work.  Seriously, to me that was not living.    But then it occurred to me-hey, I don't know if cancer is back.  My refusal to throw my family into further debt may be a doubtfully noble quirk worthy of a Drama King (or queen) but the fact that I continue to get out of bed every morning does not give me the right to make life miserable to those who love me and stand by me.    It should have been a No Brainer but in my case it was an epiphany.  FIND A WAY TO OVERCOME THOSE DEBILITATING SIDE EFFECTS. -Accept that your body will never be the same AND learn to surpass the new limits. -Accept that your mind is in a space you do not want to be in and LEARN to look for a direction towards where you can be and thrive.    DO it because you choose to live!  Do it because it will improve not just your life condition, but that of those WHO LOVE YOU AND STAY WITH YOU when most would abandon you...just to keep their Sanity.    Cheers,  Joe       ... View more

Hi Captain...    Have you come across anyone who developed an ulcer in the inside of the throat several months after last Radio/chemo?    This bugger looks and feels the same as the original one before going into treatment, albeit is lower in the throat instead of pallate.     Unlike the rad sores and burns, my old trusty acetaminophen doesn't touch the pain.  This bugger, too, is a 24/7 issue.    Will appreciate input if you've heard of a side effect like this.    Thx, JoeAZtrucker ... View more

Oops...     Thank you Captain.  Actually I was suggesting watering a well chewed pieces of a ginger tab down the throat to see if it'd help with the roadkill taste...not down the feed tube.     In my case the Ginger did not cause nearly as much pain going down as other foods and did help with nausea and roadkill mouth...    JoeAzTrucker   ... View more