Hi, I'm a member of the head and neck cancer group but ths question is outside that so will ask here...   I'm about 8 weeks or so out of a 7 week program of chemo and radiation therapy for head and neck cancer... When I had the petscan that picked my cancer up - back in February this year - another area was also showing as lit up in my abdomen but they focused on the one in my neck and the area lit up in my abdomen which was small was kind of skimmed over as if not important...   Long story short - yesterday I had an appt with my regular doctor to go over some hearing tests and she asked me to have a blood test again to check all my organs and general health and I said lets check for cancer cells too... again long story short, I had a call today and told to pick up my blood test results and take them to my next oncology appointment this Thursday because I have an abnormal (high) cell reading for CA19.9  (pancreatic cancer).   My question is - CAN the fact I have had chemo and radiation treatment recently,  well, when I say recently my final treatment date was 13 May - CAN that create a high CA19.9 reading too???? Or am I clutching at straws here?   My follow up petscan isn't scheduled until 17 August... (for my head/neck cancer follow up)   thanks... Donna ... View more

Hi... thought I'd pop in.  My 7 weeks radiation and chemo treatment ended on 13 May.  It is today 24 July and I have to wait until mid August for my follow up petscan so I know if I'm jumping for joy or not 🙂     I'm one of the 50% unlucky ones hwo have ended up with lymphedema 😞  And now have to massage my face and neck morning and night every day for the rest of my life...   Just when I think its getting better, my throat becomes so painful I can't eat and have to swallow some "pink lady" to numb it.  I'm still on Fentynal (spelling?) pain patches...    I've gone from size 14-16 down to size 8-10.  Wasn't deliberate 🙂  I always wanted to be the size I was in my 20's... hadn't planned on this kind of diet though...   I've taken up ballroom/latin dancing for exercise because I'm not a gym person.  Sometimes I'm fine and other times a simple turn makes me off balance and dizzy.  But I believe the exercise is good for us and for our brain 🙂   I would love to afford more Reiki (and if you have cancer and haven't tried Reiki you don't know what you are missing!  You MUST find a good Reiki master!  But I now pay out a lot of money for my lymphedema treatment so can't afford both...  one Powerball!   so if anyone else is a couple of months past the end of their treatment and wondering what to expect... this is my experience.  Plus I have a runny nose a lot and still have that annoying dry cough every now and then...   the runny nose might be my lymphedema though...    Ah cancer... the gift that keeps on giving... in so many ways 🙂   Hang in there everyone... don't give up the things you love to do and if you didn't have anything before, find something now.  Life is too short to leave your bucket list for a "one day" scenario!   xxx Donna     ... View more

Hi.  I'm a head and neck cancer person... have just had 7 weeks of radiation plus 3 chemo sessions involving sitting in that chair for 5 hours each time 😞   I am one week out of treatment.  Yes I'd say this has been the worst week for me.  I can actaully handle the pain - I use slow release painkillers via arm patches - but taste is non existent most of the time and the absolute worst nightmare I am enduring is that thick phlegm/stringy mucous that clogs up my throat and like a well trained goalie, tries to block everything I try to swallow...   At present I can't even swallow my supplements - they get stuck in my throat.  I'm pretty much on a liquid diet.   which brings me to my question - today I made a beautiful lamb and vegie soup - the plan being even if I can't eat the meat, the vegies will become really mushy and slide down and I will still get the benefit of the protein and vitamins etc in the soupy part... BUT despite seasonings and herbs, my once favourite soup has become tasteless.   so i added a whole large container of beef stock and extra seasoning.  Nothing. So I added a sachet of French Onion soup.  Nothing. So I added another sachet of French Onion soup.  Still nothing.   It tastes like varying degrees of mushy cardboard pieces in a tasteless warm liquid of unknown origin!   What else can I try adding that might add flavour???   My taste is weird. I can drink (and slighty taste) apple juice.   but I cant eat stewed apple - tasteless and won't go down.   I can't drink orange juice with LOTS of ice blocks (otherwise it stings my throat) But I cant eat orange pieces!   I can also drink Pineapple juice - but can't eat pineapple pieces.   I can barely taste and enjoy spearmint flavoured milk and choc milk - but no other flavours. But I can't taste real chocolate.   I can also taste lemon flavours - but can't drink it because it stings.  Thought i'd be smart and try a lemon cheesecake (plan to eat the cheese part and not the base)... but I couldn't taste a thing!  😞   Last week I could taste scrambled eggs but this week I can't.   I can eat tomatoes and taste them but ONLY if they are fried or grilled - not raw.   I can also eat and enjoy zucchini slices grilled and thus softened...  but I can't taste other vegies in my soup!  Not even the carrots!   Anyhow, I digress... looking for ideas to put some taste in my soup so I can eat it 🙂 thanks! D ... View more