Brian has successfully finished his cancer treatment! It hasn't been easy but he is done.

He was put on hydration about a month ago because he was having trouble staying hydrated with his throat being so sore. It has made a world of difference. Today will be his last hydration treatment.

He is also completely off all the little machines. He had a suction machine for the secretions that developed from the radiation. They were thick and made it difficult to breath and swallow. They also caused him to vomit which was a problem - not only because of weight loss but because his throat was raw from radiation and you can imagine how painful that was.

The other machine was a personal humidifier which kept his throat moist since a lot of head/neck patients have difficulty with dryness. Brian was no exception here. The machine he used was brand new to the U.S. It was being tested in New Zealand and Brian was the second person here to use it. It definitely served it's purpose when it was needed.

Over this past week Brian has begun to eat soft foods again! He was on a liquid diet for about a month -eating only ensures and a special Carnation Instant Breakfast that comes in a can packed full of calories bought only online. He still lost a total of 33 lbs since this whole things started but managed to (barely) escape getting a feeding tube. It was iffy for a few minutes but he worked hard and did it! He is still at a healthy weight though. Lately he has been eating cream of wheat, oatmeal, bean burritos, and soup. The Dr told us the other day that he's doing awesome! There was patient right next to us at the same place in their treatment and haven't even started to think about eating yet.

The best news yet - the dr's also said that after feeling his neck they couldn't feel anything in his lymph nodes! We won't know anything officially until Dec when they will do a PET/CT scan, but everything is looking great and we are confidant he "kicked cancer's ass"!