jagerwin

jagerwin's Recent CancerCompass Activity

• jagerwin has replied to a post on the message board

  Hi, It's a bit painful reading about your husband's pain, as it reminds me.... but we're hear to help, and you've gotten some great suggestions. I'll just note a few things that happened to me, or friends. 1. Not all pain medication is created equal, and so if you try something and it doesn't work, try something else. I know two folks who got relief from hydrocodone (Vicadin) but not oxycodone (Percoset). I am the o...

  February 02 at 4:31 AM view post

• jagerwin has replied to a post on the message board

  Sorry to read about your friend. I had a stage 4 tonsil cancer, with right lymph nodes; the usual treatment, 35 IMRT and 3 rounds of chemo. That was 4 years ago, and I'm still fairly fatigued. I have several ongoing issues, and this is one that affects me the most I'd say. But I told myself years ago to "just keep moving"....and I do! I figured if I was going to be "tired" all the time I might as well be so, doing th...

  January 09 at 6:01 AM view post

• jagerwin has commented on a news story

  I have to agree with all of this. I had a stage IV tonsil tumor that spread to lymph nodes. But I just want to add, and this is a very odd feeling to have: this whole cancer thing was both the worst and best thing that ever happened to me. And my quality of life is both far worse, and yet often, far better. There are some amazingly positive things that have happened, only because I had the cancer. Would I recommend t...

  November 03 at 5:21 PM view news story

• jagerwin has replied to a post on the message board

  hi Rachel, Sorry to read of this, but many of us know this all too well, and you will get some good feedback. Unfortunately, I never really found much relief from the various products and such that I tried. There were two that stand out though: One was something called Rain, a mouthrinse. I think the company is Spry. Which reminds me: she'll likely want something for dry mouth, and I found the best to help with that...

  October 26 at 2:44 AM view post

• jagerwin has replied to a post on the message board

  Mark, Sorry you are having to go through this. That is exactly the regime I was on, a few years ago. For me, the PEG was absolutely essential. I would have died without it. For some reason, I could NOT consume much of anything after about 2 weeks. I think it may have been more mental than physical at first, but it spiraled and I quickly lost 35 lbs. At that point, we had it put in. In hindsight, which is always so g...

  October 26 at 2:26 AM view post

• jagerwin has replied to a post on the message board

  I too took everything via the tube, for nearly a year. I spoke with my pharmacist, who added a sentence in boldface type to my info in the computer, that I needed everything "tubed". That way, if there was something that could be in liquid form, or more important, to NOT crush and put through the tube, anyone filling the Px knew to discuss with me. The doc's don't always think of this, nor did I when it was refill ti...

  October 26 at 2:17 AM view post

• jagerwin has replied to a post on the message board

  greetings, Ah, fond memories. Your treatment is like mine (I had a stage IV SCC), and my thick mucus issue resolved after a while. I don't recall exactly, as I was in a kind of fog. But it did go away. In the interim, you can try any of the following, as each helped me in some way, though nothing completely: Magic Mouthwash (Px), Mouthkote (ask your dentist; a great lemony/sweet rinse; my favorite); make your own le...

  August 16 at 4:47 PM view post

• jagerwin has replied to a post on the message board

  Greetings, I had a stage IV left tonsil tumor with some spread to the righy lymph noodes. I had trouble forming certain vowels/consonants for a few weeks, during/after treatment, so I could not enunciate well, for a while. It drove ME nuts. We kept a big notepad around, as I had to resort to writing things down, for those weeks. Eventually it got better and my speech is back to near-normal. Few other things are, but...

  August 16 at 4:39 PM view post

• jagerwin has changed their profile photo

  July 30 at 1:29 AM

• jagerwin has replied to a post on the message board

  Here are some of my experiences, from a stage IV left tonsil/right lymph node SCC. 1. I loved my PEG tube, and feel I would have died without it. I had it replaced after ! 1 year, so I had it ~16 months.  And although I was only using it once/day for some supplemental nutition that last 6 months, I really wanted to keep it! It was so much easier than re-learning how to swallow. But, as fortune would have it, I ...

  July 30 at 1:21 AM view post