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Old 07-31-2010, 09:58 AM  
Paul Markham
Too old to care
 
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Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: On the sofa, watching TV or doing my jigsaws.
Posts: 52,943
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jon Oso View Post
How long ago was it that you went through chemo? My dad had the same thing, cancer in the back of his tongue... he was able to talk through the whole thing, continued working and although he lost a ton of weight he got back into shape relatively quickly afterward. FWIW he's in his late 50s now and this happened a year or so ago.

It gets better, I don't know how bad you had it or how much chemo you went through, but it definitely gets better. He's now running 2 miles a day minimum, playing golf a couple times a week.

He did lose his sense of taste for awhile (getting it back) and the ability to produce saliva from the radiation.
It was February or March 2009 that I started chemo. After 3 months I started radio therapy. All the treatment finished in September. Originally the specialists thought it was so advanced my chances of survival were slim to none. They thought at best I would end up losing a part or all of my tongue after the chemo had reduced the growth.

After the radiation they decided I would not need anything and I had kicked it.

Gave up eating solids in August 2009 because the swelling, from radiation, had blocked my throats ability to swallow. The inside of my mouth was very tender for a long while because of the burning and I had difficulty swallowing anything but filtered water. It's better now. Still lots of things I can't drink.

I can tasted things now, just have to be careful what I put in my mouth and my sense of smell is better than it ever was. Food smells delicious.

My weight plummeted, could do little but lie on the sofa. Still sleeping 12 hours a day and can't walk much for more than an hour. I'm probably retired now as Eva runs the business. Don't ever really see me shooting again. All I do is post on the boards when I feel like it.
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