Four years and three months after RT and I was finally able to eat a Big Mac! It didn't taste the same as I remember, but I still feel like I accomplished something.

The hardest part is the bun, so I developed a pinch technique where you pinch out the burger from the back of the bun. You take small bites, and have a glass of warm water handy. When you're done you throw away the top and bottom bun.

The more time from RT I have the more tricks I've learned to make foods eatable (easier to swallow and less acidic), generally involving butter, gravy, hot coffee, hot chicken broth, creamy organic yogurt, and ice cream mixed with milk.

Congratulation Ron!

Mum
x

Good on yah Ron
I still havent tried maccas but I have enjoyed a KFC Twister as the wrap with the aid of an Iced coffee goes down quite well apart from the residue fat left in your mouth and throat after (what the heck a nice cup of coffee and its gone). the taste still is a qiery with me but I keep trying different things to keep my weight at a good level.
Go it Ron
Trev

Congrats, Ron!

Your post and your profile don't indicate what treatment you've had so I went back through some of your older posts and find that you had RT only, as I did.

We both had tonsil cancer, we both had RT (I assume you had IMRT); no node involvement, no chemo, no surgery, no Erbitux. It seems that everyone has such different reactions to the same diagnosis and/or treatment that it becomes more difficult to tell people what to expect as they go through the process. I read in one of your posts that your thyroid was somehow affected by RT and it's hard for me to picture. What is the distance between the tonsil and the thyroid? Is it so small that the precise beam of RT can be off just the slightest bit and damage structures that aren't involved? I guess it's understandable why we're bolted down, unable to move, when we undergo treatment.

I had my last RT on April 3, 2008. I didn't have a peg and was able to eat something chewable every day. During the last week or two I drank at least one Ensure daily and the rest of my food consisted of soup, vanilla pudding, mac and cheese, instant oatmeal, etc. It took a while to get my taste buds back but right now they're all back and with a vengeance! For the past month or so I've been able to eat everything I ate prior to RT - in fact this came about so subtly that I can't remember now exactly when I realized it. A month? Six weeks? Three weeks? One of your posts talked about having your first burrito after treatment - I sure remember mine!

I'd love to know why the outcome of our similar diagnoses and treatment is so different. I suppose a lot of docs wonder the same. Sometimes patients rant and rave against their docs about how indecisive or reticent they are about treatment, outcome, etc. No wonder - seems as if every single person on this board has had a different reaction to some part of diagnosis, treatment and after effects.

Right now I go about my life and forget about cancer until I go on the internet and see what's everyone's doing on this board and my breast cancer board. Nice to think about it only once a day!

However - and this is a big however - the fear of recurrence must always be lurking somewhere under the surface because day before yesterday I was convinced I had brain cancer. I woke up and walked to the bathroom feeling a little woozy and then I staggered a little bit. I have low blood pressure at times and have a home BP monitor. The reading was normal. Brain mets had to be the culprit. Then my ear started hurting a little and I realized it was clogged since swimming the day before - a few of those hold your nose, close your mouth tightly, and try to exhale things - my ears popped and voila! The brain mets were gone. My insurance company will be glad to hear the news.

Congratulations with the Big Mac! May you have many more junk food experiences in the near future! Oh - there is something I still can't eat - scratchy stuff like some bread crusts or big globs of salt on pretzels. I'm working on it though.

Best of luck to you. Nachos should be on your To Do list.

Mimi

I kinda' wandered all over this Big Mac post. I get carried away sometimes.

Hi Ron
Congratulations! It's great to have a milestone so far out. Nice to know the improvements just keep on coming.

Mimi
I had a chuckle at your brain mets and their miraculous cure. (that's a bit sick, isn't it ~ shows what this cancer thing can do to you!). I was picturing the whole block your nose, blow your ears out scenario and would like you to invent some way of doing the same to clear the abdomen of any bother. Think you could manage that for us, love? Thanks. (The problem I see with this is building up the pressure without it escaping ~ anywhere (if you know what I mean!)
Eagerly awaiting your next cure.
Love
Deborah

Mimi,

Thanks for looking at all my old posts! I did have node involvement, which may have affected the scope of the RT (I don't know the difference between RT and IMRT). I got my treatments at UC-Irvine, and they blasted away all over the place on my face and neck area, trying to be proactive to prevent the next place a tumor could show up.

My thyroid is a permanent casualty, but my thyroid levels are now ideal cause I take Levothyroxine every day.

You really recovered your eating ability much faster than I ever did. I wonder if RT techniques have improved that much in four years?

Good for you Ron. While McDonalds is not near my fave I haven't had a solid meal since february this year and even a big mac sounds good to me. Living on Ensure just doesn't cut it.

I am focusing on a McDonalds hamburger happy meal as a starting point

Good on ya Ron

Love Chloex

Good luck getting off of Ensure, Dave.

If fast food restaurants didn't sell milk shakes I might have starved to death my first year or so after RT.