My father has early stage lung cancer, contained in one lobe with no spread to any other areas of his body. He is 77 years old.

He has done chemotherapy with up and down success, and now has just finished radiation, with the hopes of just shrinking the tumor. I just saw him over the holidays, and he has aged 20 years in the last 4 months since radiation.

Right now he has two major problems: a burnt esophagus which makes eating almost impossible and a severe, never-ending itch to his skin (all over his body). He has unable to get any relief from either of these conditions. He's also the type of person (he and my mother) who don't want to bother the doctors, so he's not telling them how he really feels.

Anyone have any suggestions/tips, experiences with either of these conditions? How long will it be before he recovers from the radiation treatments?

I have an aunt who's currently going through chemo and radiation. She emailed an update just this morning to say how happy she was to find relief from her painful, extremely dry and flaky skin. At her son-in-law's suggestion, she carefully washes the area very gently and then applies Vaseline. So far, it's working very well. Maybe that suggestion will also help your dad in some way?

My husband and I suffer from dry skin in the Winter. I use a ton of lotion, but my husband tends to take showers that are really too hot for healthy skin. And, he hates the feeling of lotion. We really like the new "triple cream" body wash being offered at Bath & Body Works. We try to really stock up when it's on sale B3G3F and we have a $10/$30 coupon. I'm not sure if it'll help skin that's being damaged by chemo and radiation, but it's also worth a shot?

Hope your dad finds good health and relief from his painful condition!

When my dd went thru chemo, she was not eating well so they fed her thru her port. She had an internal double lumin port, not a Hickman, but they just hooked up a bag of fluid and nutrients at night--I think they called it TPN.

Also, boards like this or support groups are good sources of info....(always verify with the docs too). One of the best drugs we found for nausea came from the suggestion of another Cancer Mom---it wasn't something the docs suggested!! Sorry, she never had to do radiation so no other ideas there.....hoping all goes well for your family!!

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"It's not about how much baggage you have, it's about whether or not you can carry your own baggage with grace and dignity."

Ii know he does not want to bother his doctors, but he really should esp. for the burnt esophagus and not eating well. You can always call his Dr. and tell them that he doesn't want to bother them but this is what is happening. Or call the xray radiation therapy place and ask if they have any suggestions. They have a med they can use to help with this or if he does not want tell him to try sucrets or cepacol, something with benzocaine in it to numb it so he can eat. If he does not eat and loses weight, it is harder to get back to his "healthy" state.

Ask the person who did the radiation. My dh got a creme to help with radiation burns if he got them. We were told that was great for sunburn too.

DO NOT use anything from BBW or that has scents in it. There is a cream that is recomended here by all of the radiation oncology drs called aquaphor. ASK YOU DR if it is ok to use that. A patient here donates bag balm to our clinic. It is another good one for the skin and is actually a little numbing.
As far as eating goes, not much advice there. See if the center he is being treated at has a PALLIATIVE CARE department. If they do make an appt for him to see one of the drs there. They do symptom control and have lots of ideas for treatment.

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Be careful what you wish for.....

My dad just finished 30 radiation treatments to his face for a skin cancer that was removed. He also had a sore throat, radiation burns, and it damaged his salivary glands and taste buds. The doctor told him to drink some sort of a supplement similar to Slim Fast, but more nutritious. He lost more than 25 pounds. You might ask if something like that could be recommended.

Lisa

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"It's not having what you want,
It's wanting what you've got"