Hi, I can tell you that I was one of the fortunate ones, and that I was able to force myself to continue eating, even though I have the blisters and pain in my throat in addition to the lack of taste. They do prescribe medication to numb the throat as well as pain, medication to try and assist in eating solid food. Because of this, I was able to avoid a feeding tube and only dropped 6 pounds. I was able to continue to eat sold food and had to endure some pain. Just part of the deal. U can of course blend you food or protein drinks to help. I had significant burns on my neck from the radiation and used a medicated soak, called Domeboro which you soak a sterile cloth in the solution and apply it to the area . In addition, I had seven rounds of chemotherapy high doses of cisplatin that I tolerated reasonably well. I was a little fatigued afterwards for a few days, but fortunately, no nausea or vomiting and no other side effects from the treatment. I don’t want to sugarcoat the experience,It was hell just know that and be prepared and lean on whatever support is needed. I am six months in remission and pray that it continues. The side effects that I’m still suffering is a dry mouth(not horrible) my lymph nodes swell so I use a machine daily to reduce the swelling which helps tremendously. I have to do a daily fluoride treatment because the radiation significantly damages the teeth. My hair has grown back where I was radiated however, I have no facial hair on my neck.(not a bad thing since my wife does not like a beard.😝)
I have been told that again because of the treatment the thyroid needs to be monitored as the treatment can lead to thyroid cancer. Overall, I can tell you at this point I am thriving and doing very. One thing that I might suggest is to not buy things in bulk because your taste do change I found that to be the case with Gatorade, that I would take to stay hydrated however, even though it didn’t have the familiar taste, it had an awful metallic taste, and I was like unable to continue to drink it. The same was true for some high protein drink, and I had to shop for some thing that I could stomach. I did everything that my doctors, nutritionist, therapist, and nurses requested of me, and I was very diligent in doing all the exercises and EVERTHING they asked I had complete trust and faith in what they told me and I would recommend that as difficult as it may be as times that you do the same. My personal belief is that had I not gone to the Mayo, I would not be writing to you today. I pray that your treatment goes as well as can be expected, and that your results are very good. Feel free to reach out and I will provide whatever information I can.