Johnco, how are you doing? I've just been thinking about what some of you guys (here on PPOT) are going through, and wanted to let you know that you have someone pulling for you...good luck man!

doing good. lost 18 lbs that first week so doc cut out treatments for a week. practically healed up and I'm eating solid food. gained 4-5 lbs the last week. started radiation again Monday and a dose of chemo tomorrow so things will likey get bad again. but for now I'm feeling good. took my daughter, niece and 5-6 of their friends to Mississippi this weekend. it was like herding cats getting everyone at the same place same time. ate more at the Beau Rivage casino buffet one time than I had in 2 weeks combined. too bad the snow crabs, shrimp, steak, kyobi beef all tasted exacly the same. thanks for asking

Pack on those pounds man! Its the one time you're SUPPOSED to. Glad to hear that the buffet was successfully attacked.

Good to hear that you've had some relief. I guess trying to discern the grand scheme of things or see the silver lining (it's a stretch, I know), maybe that's why you've had a life of pain, to allow you to be better able to stand it now.

Well, you're still in my thoughts and prayers.

:)

John,

Your strength and focus make me humble. I don´t know your diagnose but in that general field I have met a lot of children. They always make me more humble than anything else in the world. They also make me paradoxically stronger and so do you. Hang in there!

That's profound Markus! I'd never really thought about it, but I too gain something from folks here on PPOT (that I'll probably never meet in person), and the "life lessons" that they share with us.

found some chloreseptic(sp?) film like strips you can place with your tongue where needed that helped so much with the pain. also some lidocain spray called hurricaine that although burns like hell for a few seconds, numbs the raw spots for quite a while. these two things were lifesavers and helped me thru some rough times. showed this to the radiation doc and chemo doc so maybe someone else with this problem can find some relief as I did. could not have made it without them. nothing else helped.

radiation doc told me yesterday that I was the second person he has ever treated that didn't get a feed tube. some other idiot from my home town tried it also. I wasn't offered this option, had no idea I might need it. so, tomorrow another chemo and I'll know in a week or so if I can handle it any longer with out the tube. It came to the point where ending the pain was another option. coming from a guy that's seen his own bones, had his arm hanging by a few threads of tissue, most of his calf muscle hanging down his leg, had blood spurting across the room more than once, wires, metal fragments and needles sticking out of his eye, second, third degree burns, couple inches of knife blade inserted under the kneecap..anything you can imagine happening to someone has happened to me at one time or another... this was pain I'd never wish on anyone.. and my hair is falling out in clumps now. that might be the part I dread the most..

Quit worrying about your hair...that's easy for me to say (if you saw a pic) :)! As someone else mentioned, your "life experiences" have prepared you well for this battle, and a less determined person might have given up already...continue to be strong and carry on!

Shave your head- my father looked WAY better that way, and I think he felt better just getting on with it.

Now that his hair is back, he looks weird to me. I think bald suited him well.