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pity party
I am feeling guilty, My husband is the one with the Cancer in his throat and here I am complaining and feeling sorry for myself! But I have lost half my family and I am only 50 Will be 51 next week. I lost the baby of the family in 1997 to a car wreck, my sister Karen (Beautiful young lady at age of 29) Lost my mother Mary…
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SCC Unknown Primary
Hello everyone my name is Joel and I live in Rochester NY. I am 39 years old and married to a wonderful angel of a wife and we have two young children. One month ago I was diagnosed with SCC unknown primary after a biopsy was performed on a swollen lymph node I noticed on my left neck. A PET scan showed activity in my…
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PET/CT results for Dad
We got good news yesterday. The oncologist said that the CT scan came back clear and the PET only showed a little activity in the original cancer site on the tongue. He said the number on the PET at the time of diagnosis was a 15 and now the number is 3. and anything over 4 is cancer. He seems to think that is really scar…
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share your stories to give me hope?
hi all. my dad is currently in a fight for his life, radical neck dissection for squamous cell carcinoma in April failed to remove all of the cancer. The surgeon told my family that his illness was terminal, the cancer had spread to the chest wall and possibly to the vertabrae. He's been going through daily radiation and…
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RE: What do you crave.
I didn't want to interupt y'alls post so I thought I'd ask it here, how long does it take to be able to eat the way you did before the treatments? I guess this is different for everyone, and I guess only people who are fully recovered can answer me, but I'm curious.
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Neck Dissection & PT
Just a quick question. How many folks went to or requested physical therapy after their neck dissection? I'm about 3 1/2 weeks out from my partial right neck dissection, back to work but my neck is still very stiff/sore. The massage and heat trick works for a time, but about half way through the day the muscles start…
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SPOHNC (anybody here familiar with this org)
I emailed our SPOHNC contact early yesterday morning looking for guidance about how to get my brother seen at a local hospital here since he is indigent & needing medical followup asap. I left her a voicemail too about 9:15 yesterday. No return email, no return call so far. Anyone have any experience or contact with…
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How long do I need to stay on my meds?
Hello everyone, I am new to this and I am 5 weeks out from my last radiation treatment. I had an unknown primary with a radical left neck disection. They removed my jugular and they removed my left shoulder trapezoid along with 23 lymphnods which 3 were positive. My pain is limited but the meds seem to help me cope with my…
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Good and Bad days,
We all have the Good and Bad day thing but I was wondering if there was something that helps you to have more of Good days then bad.
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Do you look in the mirror
Hi all. Thanks for the responses to the survey. It is very interesting. I am wondering if any of you ever look in the mirror and say with an element of disbelief. You've had CHEMO and RADIATION. I certainly do. Its almost like it happened to someone else except you have the side effects xxx
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three for three
4 1/2 weeks out now and things are looking up. 1st: My wife, Kusi, and I went to our fave Italian restaurant on Sunday and I was able to eat some of everything we ordered: the thinnest of thin crust margherita pizza, spaghetti napoletana, mussels arrabbiata (Kusi's choice) and some salad. I had tried some pizza just 2…
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NEXT PHASE OF TREATMENT
Hello all, hope things are good with everyone. I met with my Radiation Doc last week and met with my Chemo Doc today. We have the final plan and am ready to do some serious battle with Mr. C. I am having both sides of my neck radiated starting Sept. 8th. 6 weeks M-F. The Chemo portion will be 3 doses of Cisplatin over the…
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Sad News
Hi all: I have very sad news to report. Charlie passed away Sat. night Aug. 21. He had a gi bleed; low blood pressure, electrolyte issues, low blood counts, severely dehydrated. He was admitted Thursday afternoon and was doing better; but on Sat. began having problems breathing and they had to keep pushing fluids to keep…
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Frustration
I should be two weeks into treatment by now; but due to some issues with lymph fluid (chyle)collecting in my neck and distorting the simulation scans, treatment is delayed. Last week, my ENT put a drain tube into my neck, along with yet another pressure dressing, and modified my diet. Tomorrow he will hopefully remove the…
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Social Security Disability
Second bout with Malgnant Melanoma on my right neck. Diagnosis fortunatly is good. After surgery anyhow and now heading for some Radiation Treatments. That required some teethe removal for the radiation treatmennts. And with the disection of quite a few of the tendons in my shoulder it now droops a bit. Have applied for…
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Hospital Stay - Suggestions?
With my husbands throat and neck surgery looming in the next couple of weeks (no date at the moment), and knowing there is a lot of experience on such stuff here - question for any of you who were hospitalized. Hubby will be in hospital for at least a week. Doc says couple of days in ICU, then 5-7 in regular room. I…
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BOT Biopsy Tomorrow
I am heading into the OR tomorrow for a BOT biopsy. A couple of areas of interest popped up on the PET/CT scan and though my doctor says he is not too concerned about it he thinks they should check anyways since their approach with me has been so conservative ( unknown primary, T0N1M0 and surgery only ). Nonetheless,…
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Surgery Recovery ???
I hate to keep posting all these questions, but I have searched the internet and can't find an answer. I realize I need to talk to the doctor about it, but am trying to save my questions for closer to surgery, so am hoping y'all can help. My husband will be having modified radical neck dissection (one side only), plus they…
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A Heartfelt Thanks
Hi all: Basketcase checking in here. I've been on my own since Sat. now and it is very hard. I miss Charlie so much! The visitation and service were beautiful and so many people came by and to the funeral. Our church provided a luncheon after the service and it was just great! His brother and I spoke at the funeral service…
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Thrush and choking on mucus here!
I feel like I am going to choke on this mucus. Any ideas? I also got diagnosed with Thrush today and they put me on Fluconozole. Can't talk or move my tongue. Very painful.
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The things that have helped me
SCC Right tonsil - lymph node involvement. After my treatment I was in the doldrums, totally, on the outside everyone thought I was doing fine, but, on the inside I was churning constantly about thoughts of my existence. As the old saying goes, time heals, it actually does, I got stronger emotinally everyday. The I went on…
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Heard From the Surgeon - Couple of Questions
Heard from doctor today and the great news just keeps on coming.... of course the biopsy was positive for cancer, we found that out yesterday. Today's good news is that he will have to have the "big" surgery. He will have modified neck dissection surgery where they will take out a couple of lymph nodes on one side. He will…
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NEXT PHASE OF TREATMENT
Today was the longest amount of time I have spent away from the couch and TV. I had my first Appt. with my Radiation Oncologist. My wife and I like him allot. He is going to consult with my Surgeon and his colleagues to determine if giving radiation to the left side of my neck where there is NED is warranted. He says due…
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Tonsil Cancer - 4 months post treatment
Hi all, what an awesome site, I am so happy to have found you all. I am 4 months out of treatment 35 radiation, 3 cisplatin, I had SCC right tonsil T1N1M0, 44 year old female, smoker and light drinker, although that does not seem to matter to much. I had IMRT treatment with great success and very little side effects, I…
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Scoped again
Doctor scoped me this morning. he said he didn't see anything new. It's been 3 months since the last one. All clear. I am waiting for my Onco to call with the schedule for my six month PET. Waiting on the insurance approval. Still getting the lhermitts and dry throat. Salvia is much better. Eating is good. Maintaining…
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Football Season! What's your Team? :)
Hi Folks, thought it would be nice to post something other than cancer stuff! So who is into football? What is your team. I am a BUFFALO BILLS fan. I was OAKLAND RAIDERS when I was younger but decided to join the rest of the western New Yorkers and support the local team! Go BILLS! Charles
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Lhermitte's sign
I had a rather intense episode of Lhermitte's sign two nights ago, the first time I've experienced this. I'm now three months post rads and chemo. I was at the infamous Diamondback Grill, trying to (very slowly) eat my half order of bacon-cheddar cheeseburger with sweetpotato fries washed down with copious amounts of water…
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Dancing with NED tonight!
My three-month PET-CT was this morning at Stanford. My doctor was able to review the results and discuss them with me late this afternoon. NO UPTAKE! NO AVIDITY! NO EVIDENCE OF DISEASE! The scoping and all the palpations were normal. Got a finger jammed down my throat again today and it seems to be getting easier. I…
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Help Anyone?--3rd Time---Running out of Optiions???
Surgerically removed tumor back of mouth, left wrist flap, 30 days rad: Dec 2008; Recurred Oct 2009 flap issues due to previous RAD treatment. Received an additional 30 days rad, 30 HBOT and 6wks Carboplation. Recurred again 7/2010. Very close to carotid artery; can't have any more Rads; doctor says he cut out all that was…
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STAGE REVISION
I had my first post visit with my surgeon today and he kind of rocked my world. He met with the Tunor Board and the consus was to re stage my cancer. I was originally staged T2N2BM0 42A P16+ restaged T3N3M0 42B P16+. His explanation was a combination of the sizes of the tumors and the aggressive spread. he described the…