My husband Jerry (also a big Chan fan) is doing much better. He had his last chemo on the 16th of August (and those make him very nauseous, etc.) and he had his last radiation treatment on the 23rd of Aug. The radiation burned the inside of his mouth and the outside on his neck and cheek. It actually blistered inside the mouth. The blisters are finally just now going away, so he is hoping to try soft food by mouth in a week or two. No hard things allowed until the surgeon who reconstructed his jaw gives the OK (maybe Nov.?).
I am still feeding him 6 cans of liquid food a day, three two can meals, through a feeding tube in his stomach, which was installed just after surgery.
All of his surgery wounds are healed, and as I said only wounds now are blisters in his mouth. Jaw is still very sore, and was aggravated by the radiation. He has been on pain meds since surgery. He is still tired, but not nearly as much as in the beginning. His beard fell out, but he doesn't look bad. Many people comment on how they think he looks good this way. You can no longer see the scar (which is under the jaw line), unless you really look for it. It is unnoticable if you are just talking to him, and even I can barely make it out, and I know where it is.
Another ongoing complaint he has is that his tongue has not come back to life yet, that is the nerves to the one side are still not working. I guess nerves grow back very slowly, only a small distance each month. When you talk to him he sounds a little odd, like he had just been to the dentist, but he gets better every day. Right after surgery he could not feel that entire side of his jaw area, now it is just the tongue.
Long term his worry will be whether any cancer shows up elsewhere, especially in the lymph nodes, as it had gotten into those nodes by his jaw (they were removed), and all lymph nodes are connected...
Thank you for the update on Jerry. It sounds that things are definitely going in the hoped-fore direction. Please relay my sincerest best wishes, and those of ALL of us, for a fast and full recovery. I can tell you, and I believe that you already know, that ALL Chan Family members have been and will continue to hold Jerry in our deepest thoughts and prayers.
Jerry has been thru so much, poor guy. Chemo isn't easy and those blisters sound so uncomfortable.
Please know that your Charlie Chan friend here in PA is sending lots of love and prayers your way. There are better days ahead and hopefully the worst is behind you now.
I had nerves cut once for an operation and a year later I started to feel tingly and bee stings, that was the nerves being restored, so maybe that will happen for Jerry too.
Thank you Jan, and everyone else, for your well wishes.
Jerry has just started eating soups, as the blisters have finally gone, but now his tongue gets sore at the base because he hasn't used it for eating in so long. In the middle of the radiation it hurt him to even talk, but that is much better now.
Thanks again to all our Chan Family,
Diana and Jerry
Hi DMC, sorry for the late response! I haven't had much time these days.
I tried e-mailing you, asking how you and Jerry were since I haven't seen you post on the site in quite some time. I'm glad to hear that Jerry is doing better! He's definitely been through a lot, and I hope that he feels better! I know it all takes time but it does sound like he's made a lot of progress and that's great news.
Please let him know that I send my best wishes to him on his recovery!
