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Head and Neck Cancer

NCP DIAGNOSIS
HELLO, I am a 41 year old mother of two small children diagnosed with Stage 3/4 on April 20th. I recently underwent a dose of cisplatin & doestaxol and I'm scheduled to see the Radiation Oncologist for chemo/radiation treatment. I am terrified of the chemo/radiation and subsequent side effects which seem endless. Has…
Getting Ready for Radiation..
Hi all, sorry its been awhile since my last update but feeling anxious and scared more often, can't sleep and getting very irritable with my wife and nurses, family, etc...it's more my own frustration on being dependent on others to do things for me and not at them. But feeling guilty as well. For the first time I feel…
‎"There's a rainbow of babies/Draped over the graveyard"
(John Prine reference) My dear friend Glenna: You would be pleased to know that I spent the weekend involved with the grandboys, their parents, and their friends in a birthday party. It was a car racing theme, per the young man turning four, and there was lots of water play involved, as you might imagine, along with all of…
Waiting is soooo hard
Had my 1st CAT w/contrast today and am suffering that scanxiety that Skiffin talked about. Doctor was to have results on their desk by 10:30 and I have been on pins and needles since. I realize they have patients, appts. etc. but the waiting is so overwhelming. Praying the surgery, rads and chemo took care of the beast.…
just woke up with a puddle of drool on the pillow
sweet! disgusting! it'll probably stain the pillowcase! but one of the surest signs of progress since rads ended a month ago today. happy dance!
SCC of the hypopharyngeal posterior wall
It has been 2 weeks since the end of my 35 rads and 8 Erbitux treatments and feeling better. My throat pain is slowly going down as well as my stiff neck. Still have some blisters and burns popping up but they are also healing slowly. I have been able to cut back on my pain medicine so don't feel like I am addicted. I have…
Gargle and spit w/ Tylenol PM helped pain
Hey all .... The last month I have had some pretty bad pain in my uvula (sp) area...not worried about it as oncologist did a scope July 1 and said all looks good ..ENT also said pain will come and go when I saw him July 19th.. ..but boy, really painful this past week. The pain seems to be coming from the uvula (that thing…
Dental/Necrotic Jaw Problems 30+ yrs Post Radiation and Radical Neck Dissection
After recently experiencing extensive dental issues, both my dentist and oral surgeon are concerned the problems are a result of the radiation treatments I received following a modified radical neck dissection. Here’s the kicker – I was 19 years old while a freshman in college when I had the cancer/surgery; I am 51 now –…
Cough
New side effect. Hubby started last night with a dry hacking cough. That's how I describe it. I asked him how he would describe it. His throat is so sore and raw he just shook his head. He is 10 days post rads. He had been coughing a lot during the day coughing up the mucous. He is still doing that but not quite as much.…
Week six ahead
Wife heads into week six of chemo/Rad tomorrow. Been positive about the whole thing til now. Tired of the rinces,the ensures, the pain and the lousy mouth. No amount of love is working . Won't try to eat anything and thinks the prescribed meds will only work after the fact instead of preventative. Walking the fine line of…
Had my barium swallow test today
Mmm, tasty barium (not)! I got super sick from the narcotics during treatment, and was unable to eat much even via tube. While I was in the hospital the first time, I had a swallow test that was incomplete, but showed that I had a little aspiration with thin liquids. At that point, my radiation oncologist (the primary…
a tiny bit about me~~~
Today, the 29th, my boys have left to go home to Chicago. Ten days of fishing,arcades,miniture golf, Cedar Point for 3 days, eating out, movies , etc..are over and gone..making memories, this Grandmom is soooo happy to be around to share in the fun!!!
Treatment Dilemma for Tongue Cancer
This is for my Brother in Law who is suffering from Tongue cancer (Well differentiated Squamous Cell carcinoma). He was diaognised with the same in August and was already 12 Months late for diagnosis.We have been taking Opinion from various Doctors and is finding it difficult to arrive at a conclusion as to whether adopt…
How long before G-tube is removed
My mother had the feeding tube placed on 7/3/12 and is home receiving 4 cans a day and continuous feeding throughout the night. She can't even swallow water or her own saliva at this point due to the radiations effects. Also, does anyone have any idea how long it will take for her throat to heal from the radiations effects…
Saliva
Hi! I had neck and base of tongue cancer, and am 10 weeks removed from 38 radiation treatments + weekly Erbitux. I tolerated treatment well, but I'm afraid my salivary glands got completely fried in the process. I have almost no saliva, and talking and eating are very difficult. Is there any hope or am I going to be like…
Gardasil (HPV) vaccinations for boys
my 20-year-old son just made an appointment to ask about getting vaccinated. he did it on his own, knowing that his old dad has HPV-16+ SCC. yep, proud of him! "HPV vaccine is recommended for all teen boys and men through age 21, who did not get all three doses of the vaccine when they were younger. The vaccine is also…
Follow up post surgery
I had my post surgery follow up with the doctor last Friday. The primary was found in my right tonsil. It was completely encapsulated and it was about 2cm in size. All of the other biopsies taken during surgery came back clean. They did not remove my upper right lymph node, which is driving me crazy knowing that it is…
recently diagnosed
Hi, My name is Kevin Myhaver and I was recently diagnosed with scc of the tonsil, stage IVA as it has spread to Lymph nodes on both sides of my neck. So newly diagnosed that we only met with the Radiation-Oncologist for the first time last week and we are meeting with the Medical-Oncologist for the first time this coming…
LAST DAY OF CHEMO TODAY!!
First milestone done today, chemo is over. It did kick my butt this time, even thought they put it over 3 days instead of 2. I thinking the having to get up every 2 hours all night to pee is wearing me out. But at least this is over. Tomorrow is just Iv fluids. They put me on break from radiation until at least Monday as…
Pathology report updated
Hello ! Well finally after 7 months I now know on my histology report. I definately have adcc...and histology showing all 3 tissue types in tumor (cribform, tubular, solid) was told path doc. had quite a time typing me because of this. So what does this mean ? I am definately in what is deemed the middle group for…
For Pat (longtermsurvivor)
I know this is your expertise, so I took the chance that you would answer this question, please!! I have been on .5 Estradiol pills for probably 8 years or so. Wanted to get off several times but my gyn explained the pros and cons and I stayed on. But throughout this ordeal, I've been so worried that after getting over…
wake up with bleeding dry mouth
I have been waking up about every hour with mouth pain, dry mouth, and bleeding. Sometimes I get a hour and a half of sleep between. The pain is real sharp. I think I must be sleeping with my mouth open. any sugestions.. I am in my 6th week of Radiation, with 9 more treatments. For pain I have time release morphine and I…
Anyone here use Nystatin?
I think the thrush is back, and my doctor told me to use Nystatin for it (which I already had). He said if it doesn't clear up in a week, we'll try Diflucan (again). Does anyone have info on how long Nystatin takes to work? As the thrush takes hold, it makes it tough for me to swallow at times... and my speech pathologist…
hwt
Please read your mail. You're giving me a complex.
Boost burning my tongue
Well I’m down to 10 more radiation treatments after today. I have blisters in my mouth. The worst is the ones on my tongue. No taste except for the horrible taste always in my mouth. Swallowing is with difficulty, I can eat wieners (Oscar Meyers) and some streamed vegetables (Squash, Carrots and Brussels Sprouts) with…
Starting my treatments tomorrow morning
Start treatments tomorrow morning, radiation and chemo. what should i expect from 1st chemo treatment.
Radical neck dissection?
So I saw a post about swelling post surgery and that got me thinking, what is the actual definition of a radical neck dissection? Is it determined by how much tissue they remove or the number of lymph nodes? I had 47 lymph nodes removed from the right side of my neck back at the end of March along with the tumor from my…
Anticipating 4month PET scan results Thursday
Hi Friends. I have to be honest, I haven't been active on this board since I got my first clean scan back on 3/15. I think I have dealt with all this BS by pretending it wasn't happening. So dysfunctional, I know but I guess it worked! Now I just had another PET scan last Friday 7/06 and will get the results Thursday 7/12.…
Frequency of changing PEG tube
I did a search and could not find any information on how often the PEG needs to be changed. In May, Buzz had a new PEG inserted. We were told to have it replaced in August. My concern is that now that he is on Hospice and becoming weaker by the day, do I put him through another tube change? I don't know if I will even be…
SINGLE DIGITS!!!
9 rads to go! Doc also said my tonsil tissue has all of the sudden shrunk significantly!!! Yay!!! (I did have a large portion of the tonsil removed but my tumor was so widespread it would have taken "combat style" surgery to get it all... Docs words)

Head and Neck Cancer

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