Thank you. I will start with saying that the end result, in my case, negated any undesirable side effects during and after the treatments. I will start with the positive news. I had no issues with my gums and my teeth. As long as your husband has an exam and gets a fluoride treatment before radiation/chemo treatments start, and takes time to brush and floss during treatment, I think he will be okay.
I assume he will have 35 radiation treatments and chemo treatments once per week (like mine). If so, he probably won't experience and severe symptoms for the first three weeks or so as long as he takes the prescribed medications for nausea and constipation. After three weeks, he may start to experience symptoms such as a sore throat, dry mouth, and loss of taste. This probably will impact his ability and desire to eat solid foods. For me, I couldn't stand the taste of any solid foods and survived on nutritional drinks (as least for a while). The other symptom I experienced was a constant buildup of mucus in my throat that made me have to spit and cough continually. Pretty gross! This was kind of unexpected for me as this side effect was not explained to me before treatments. For me, it was the worst of all the side effects. Eventually, I learned to sleep sitting up and that helped. Also, there are medications you can take for throat pain and that helps as well. Again, for me I ended up with a feeding (PEG) tube. As bad as that may sound, it was literally a life saver for me to get the nutrition I needed to survive as I lost 40 lbs. and was weak from not being able to event drink my nutritional shakes at the worst point. I hope I am not frightening you as this is not my intention. I hope your husband doesn't experience any of these side effects or he may have different ones but wanted you to not to be surprised going into the treatments. The bottom line is that as bad as the side effects seemed, it is for a relatively short time and have him keep his eyes on the end goal.... eliminating cancer.
I am six weeks out from my last treatment and my throat is almost pain free, I can eat solid food again and my taste is coming back. Of course, the best news is my CT scan was "clean". I've only got my PET scan to go as evidence of my remission!
A couple of recommendations: 1. Have him get a port-a-cath implanted right away before chemo treatments (unless he doesn't mind getting stuck in his arms for every blood draw or treatment). 2. Have him take the recommended medication for nausea, etc. as recommended. It will save you and him trying to "catch up" later. 3. Don't be afraid to have a PEG tube implanted if he is unable to eat enough. 4. In his darkest moments, remind him about the end game. The side effects will eventually go away!
I pray your husband has great success in irradicating his cancer. I also pray for strength for you. My wife was my greatest support. Without her (and my faith in God), I'm not sure how I could have made it through. Take care!