Esthesioneuroblastoma
Comments
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New DiagnosisSIRENAF42 said:Esthesionueroblastoma
I was diagnosed with Ethesio... in Jun 2008, underwent suregery to remove the tumor and then 6 weeks of radiation at MD Anderson in Houston TX. My last treatment was Oct 1 2008. My 30 day check up was in NOv and my drs were very pleased with the results. I go back in March for my next check up... I am sooo excited that I found someone else with my type cancer.. I cant wait to communicate with you.
SirenaHi Sirena, I was just diagnosed a couple weeks ago. I had been having some conjestion for several months and had gone through multiple rounds of antibiotics. My family physician referred me to an ENT. My CT scan showed complete blockage on my left side. I had an MRI the next week. Last Friday I had the majority of the tumor that was in my sinuses taken out. This Friday I am going back to surgery to have the remainder of the tumor taken out. They have to remove a small bone to get to it and my doctor tells me I will lose my sense of smell. Fortunately they are going to be able to do the procedure endoscopically. I will get a lumbar drain Friday morning then have surgery in the afternoon. This whole process has been very fast and extremely frightening. I am otherwise a very healthy 52 yr old with 4 kids. All I have been able to think about is will I be able to see my children marry and hold my grandkids someday. It's reassuring for me to hear about survivors of this terrible disease. Any insight you or anyone can provide will be greatly appreciated.
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I, too, had loss of smell.Mona4 said:New Diagnosis
Hi Sirena, I was just diagnosed a couple weeks ago. I had been having some conjestion for several months and had gone through multiple rounds of antibiotics. My family physician referred me to an ENT. My CT scan showed complete blockage on my left side. I had an MRI the next week. Last Friday I had the majority of the tumor that was in my sinuses taken out. This Friday I am going back to surgery to have the remainder of the tumor taken out. They have to remove a small bone to get to it and my doctor tells me I will lose my sense of smell. Fortunately they are going to be able to do the procedure endoscopically. I will get a lumbar drain Friday morning then have surgery in the afternoon. This whole process has been very fast and extremely frightening. I am otherwise a very healthy 52 yr old with 4 kids. All I have been able to think about is will I be able to see my children marry and hold my grandkids someday. It's reassuring for me to hear about survivors of this terrible disease. Any insight you or anyone can provide will be greatly appreciated.
I, too, had loss of smell. Unfortunately, the flavors we can taste are highly dependent on smell. So, be prepared to lose taste as well. At first, it's a very strange sensation to get used to. I had my battle against ENB back in 2009 and I'm still cancer free. Cancer can be a very unforgiving opponent. Even if you win you might have to sacrifice something. Take courage. This is one of the cancers that can be bested. You're young at 52. I was 59 when I had to battle ENB.
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Get Ready to Fight The Big One MonaMona4 said:New Diagnosis
Hi Sirena, I was just diagnosed a couple weeks ago. I had been having some conjestion for several months and had gone through multiple rounds of antibiotics. My family physician referred me to an ENT. My CT scan showed complete blockage on my left side. I had an MRI the next week. Last Friday I had the majority of the tumor that was in my sinuses taken out. This Friday I am going back to surgery to have the remainder of the tumor taken out. They have to remove a small bone to get to it and my doctor tells me I will lose my sense of smell. Fortunately they are going to be able to do the procedure endoscopically. I will get a lumbar drain Friday morning then have surgery in the afternoon. This whole process has been very fast and extremely frightening. I am otherwise a very healthy 52 yr old with 4 kids. All I have been able to think about is will I be able to see my children marry and hold my grandkids someday. It's reassuring for me to hear about survivors of this terrible disease. Any insight you or anyone can provide will be greatly appreciated.
Hi Mona,
My husband's battle with esthesio began in 2008. After two surgeries, radiation, and chemo, by all appearances, it appeared as though he was in remission. Then in 2013, the neurosurgeon picked up on some changes in his surveillance MRI. Then he had an abnormal PET that showed a glow in one of his lymph nodes and an area in his sinus that had been negative before. Two surgeries later; we had good news and bad news. The good news was the sinus appeared to be negative; the bad news was two lymph nodes were positive. As we were not esthesio newbies; we emailed all the experts and got their opinion via email and saw one of them at UVA. My husband Tom decided this time to go radiation only which he seemed to fair much better this time around. Tom just had a PET yesterday and we will be seing his radiation oncologist tommorow at Hopkins.
I have a few lessons learned that I can pass on to you.
1. This type of surgery is very complex and requires typically a neurosurgeon and ENT (sinus specialist). That's a red flag if there is not two.
2. If the surgeons are doing it right, there should not be a need for a second surgery. The surgeon should be sending off frozen sections while you are on the table until it comes back negative. That's what they mean by a negative margin. We learned that lesson the hard way. The fact that our first surgeon was doing it solo should have clued us. The second one was 19 hours until they got negative margins.
3. This type of surgery should be done at a big teaching hospital not some little community hospital that is not up to snuff with current evidenced based medicine. There are several experts in the field and those are the folks that are publishing. UVA has Levine, Hopkins has Gallia, there was a few other good ones- (a) University of Pitt, (b) MD Anderson in Texas.
4. Even if you don't have cancer in your lymph nodes, they should radiate the neck prophylatically. Apparently that's been pretty standard for a while. Learned that lesson the hard way too.
5. Have your surgeries and your treatments (i.e. chemo, RAD) at the same facility-another mistake we made. Things get missed more when you have doctors at two different facilities . This practice leads to delays or poor communication hand-offs.
6. Do your research. Even if you feel like you're reading German..Google terms you don't understand. Here is one of the articles that I looked at last time. http://www.ajnr.org/content/32/5/929.full.
7. Follow-up surveillance is key. PET's and MRI's are the new norm for you.
8. Ask your doctors questions if something does not sound right or bring a family member who will. You have to be your own advocate.
9. I'm a nurse and I believe in this one the most. Always have a family member stay with you in the hospital. They can keep a closer eye on you and act as your advocate.
10. Don't be afraid to ask for help from your loved ones. People have a tendency to help you out when it's convenient for them. Sometimes though that's not when the treatment is or the doctor is available. Tell people exactly what you want from them.
In regards to Sirena; I don't know if she is still active with this website. If you look at her postings, it appears her last one was December of 2011. Not sure what that means..
Lastly; I hope you're doing okay Mona. I would imagine if your doing chemo and/or RAD, you should be finishing up soon. If you're going with both, be prepared to be tired for a year. No kidding on that one. Keep your chin up and fight the good fight. You can do it!
Best,
Karla Platt
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I was diagnosed with an ENB
I was diagnosed with an ENB in December 1999. It was within a half of an inch of growing out of my nose, throughout the right side of my face (in my sinus') and up to the lining of my brain. Our local hospitals didn't have any experience with ENB's and referred me to Tufts in Boston. I'm so grateful to live an hour from Boston, which is considered the medical mecca of the world. I had an eleven hour craniotomy with the Chief of Neurosurgery and an amazing Otolaryngologist who was part of the first ever face transplant team. I was cut ear to ear and my forehead was removed. My forehead bones were reattached to five titaninum plates and replaced. I lost my sense of smell, but honestly my feeling is if you are going to lose one of your senses that would be the one I would choose to lose first. It was a very small price to pay in exchange for my life. I mean, there are some things in life that nobody should have to smell...lol
I had six weeks of radiation, but no chemo. Although there is very little known about ENB's, they do not that chemo is not really necessary in most cases. My surgeon's said it's rare for ENB's to metastasize to other parts of the body. They keep a close eye on me via MRI's. I sent them Anniversary cards every New Year's Eve (the anniversary date of my surgery). So, I guess I can happily say, I'm a 14 year ENB survivor and each day is a gift. 
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Seattlemom2.4 said:This is my first
This is my first introduction to this web site. I'm glad to have found it, especially since ENB is so rare. Each of the posts have been very encouraging.
My daughter was diagnosed in Oct. of 2007 with ENB (Kadish stage C), at the age of 13. She had tumor (4cm x 5cm) resection at Seattle Children's. She had clean margins except where the tumor had invaded the fatty tissue around the eye orbit. She then went for proton beam radiation at MD Anderson Proton Center (for 8 weeks). Two months after radiation ended she had her follow-up appt. and both the MRI and biopsy showed irregular cells, which the doctor's decided was either residual or recurrent ENB. She then underwent 4 rounds of chemo at Seattle Children's. Three different types of Chemo were used: carboplatin, ifosfamide, and etoposide. She has been cancer free since July 2008. We have had amazing doctor's through the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. Her surgeons are both from Harborview in Seattle, and have done an amazing job at tumor removal and reconstruction.
For those of you who had resection followed by radiation, what stage was your cancer and did the surgeons get clean margins?
My daughter continues to have PT scans and MRI's every 3 months. Although at her last appt. the Oncologist said that she could move to every 4 months and do MRI's only, since she has been cancer free for nearly 2 years.
I would highly recommend Proton Beam radiation for anyone with ENB. It has very little splatter and a very low exit dose, therefore has fewer side effects than traditional photon radiation. My daughter did not lose any hair, nor sense of smell, and did not have negative salivary side effects.
I hope this is helpful. Everyone's comments have been helpful and encouraging to me. If I can be a help to anyone going through what we went through, I'd be more than happy to.Hi My husband has just been diagnosed and have Dr Kris Moe and Ferrarria at UW medical. Were they you daughters surgeons. They mentioned to us a young patient?
Thanks for any anwsers you might have.
Best
Melissa
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Thanks for your messageKP said:Get Ready to Fight The Big One Mona
Hi Mona,
My husband's battle with esthesio began in 2008. After two surgeries, radiation, and chemo, by all appearances, it appeared as though he was in remission. Then in 2013, the neurosurgeon picked up on some changes in his surveillance MRI. Then he had an abnormal PET that showed a glow in one of his lymph nodes and an area in his sinus that had been negative before. Two surgeries later; we had good news and bad news. The good news was the sinus appeared to be negative; the bad news was two lymph nodes were positive. As we were not esthesio newbies; we emailed all the experts and got their opinion via email and saw one of them at UVA. My husband Tom decided this time to go radiation only which he seemed to fair much better this time around. Tom just had a PET yesterday and we will be seing his radiation oncologist tommorow at Hopkins.
I have a few lessons learned that I can pass on to you.
1. This type of surgery is very complex and requires typically a neurosurgeon and ENT (sinus specialist). That's a red flag if there is not two.
2. If the surgeons are doing it right, there should not be a need for a second surgery. The surgeon should be sending off frozen sections while you are on the table until it comes back negative. That's what they mean by a negative margin. We learned that lesson the hard way. The fact that our first surgeon was doing it solo should have clued us. The second one was 19 hours until they got negative margins.
3. This type of surgery should be done at a big teaching hospital not some little community hospital that is not up to snuff with current evidenced based medicine. There are several experts in the field and those are the folks that are publishing. UVA has Levine, Hopkins has Gallia, there was a few other good ones- (a) University of Pitt, (b) MD Anderson in Texas.
4. Even if you don't have cancer in your lymph nodes, they should radiate the neck prophylatically. Apparently that's been pretty standard for a while. Learned that lesson the hard way too.
5. Have your surgeries and your treatments (i.e. chemo, RAD) at the same facility-another mistake we made. Things get missed more when you have doctors at two different facilities . This practice leads to delays or poor communication hand-offs.
6. Do your research. Even if you feel like you're reading German..Google terms you don't understand. Here is one of the articles that I looked at last time. http://www.ajnr.org/content/32/5/929.full.
7. Follow-up surveillance is key. PET's and MRI's are the new norm for you.
8. Ask your doctors questions if something does not sound right or bring a family member who will. You have to be your own advocate.
9. I'm a nurse and I believe in this one the most. Always have a family member stay with you in the hospital. They can keep a closer eye on you and act as your advocate.
10. Don't be afraid to ask for help from your loved ones. People have a tendency to help you out when it's convenient for them. Sometimes though that's not when the treatment is or the doctor is available. Tell people exactly what you want from them.
In regards to Sirena; I don't know if she is still active with this website. If you look at her postings, it appears her last one was December of 2011. Not sure what that means..
Lastly; I hope you're doing okay Mona. I would imagine if your doing chemo and/or RAD, you should be finishing up soon. If you're going with both, be prepared to be tired for a year. No kidding on that one. Keep your chin up and fight the good fight. You can do it!
Best,
Karla Platt
Hi Karla,
Thank you very much for your message. I hope both you and your husband are doing well. I had my first MRI and CT scan 3 months post radiation. Both were clear, thank God! I haven't been to this site in a while. I guess I just try not to think about the fact that the tumor may come back. I will go back in January for another MRI. I was very lucky to have a great ENT who had experience with an esthesio. He put together a great team of doctors for me at Carolinas Medical Center. I don't have any lasting effects except for the fact that I can't smell anything and I have to use the saline rinses in the morning & at night. After reading some of the posts tonight I am definitely going to be very vigilant about getting the MRI's and CT scans on a regular basis. My doctor says if I can get to five years, then I can have the scans less frequently.
Thank you again for sharing your husband's story and your experience.
Mona
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ENB/ONB and my brother's recent DXKP said:Get Ready to Fight The Big One Mona
Hi Mona,
My husband's battle with esthesio began in 2008. After two surgeries, radiation, and chemo, by all appearances, it appeared as though he was in remission. Then in 2013, the neurosurgeon picked up on some changes in his surveillance MRI. Then he had an abnormal PET that showed a glow in one of his lymph nodes and an area in his sinus that had been negative before. Two surgeries later; we had good news and bad news. The good news was the sinus appeared to be negative; the bad news was two lymph nodes were positive. As we were not esthesio newbies; we emailed all the experts and got their opinion via email and saw one of them at UVA. My husband Tom decided this time to go radiation only which he seemed to fair much better this time around. Tom just had a PET yesterday and we will be seing his radiation oncologist tommorow at Hopkins.
I have a few lessons learned that I can pass on to you.
1. This type of surgery is very complex and requires typically a neurosurgeon and ENT (sinus specialist). That's a red flag if there is not two.
2. If the surgeons are doing it right, there should not be a need for a second surgery. The surgeon should be sending off frozen sections while you are on the table until it comes back negative. That's what they mean by a negative margin. We learned that lesson the hard way. The fact that our first surgeon was doing it solo should have clued us. The second one was 19 hours until they got negative margins.
3. This type of surgery should be done at a big teaching hospital not some little community hospital that is not up to snuff with current evidenced based medicine. There are several experts in the field and those are the folks that are publishing. UVA has Levine, Hopkins has Gallia, there was a few other good ones- (a) University of Pitt, (b) MD Anderson in Texas.
4. Even if you don't have cancer in your lymph nodes, they should radiate the neck prophylatically. Apparently that's been pretty standard for a while. Learned that lesson the hard way too.
5. Have your surgeries and your treatments (i.e. chemo, RAD) at the same facility-another mistake we made. Things get missed more when you have doctors at two different facilities . This practice leads to delays or poor communication hand-offs.
6. Do your research. Even if you feel like you're reading German..Google terms you don't understand. Here is one of the articles that I looked at last time. http://www.ajnr.org/content/32/5/929.full.
7. Follow-up surveillance is key. PET's and MRI's are the new norm for you.
8. Ask your doctors questions if something does not sound right or bring a family member who will. You have to be your own advocate.
9. I'm a nurse and I believe in this one the most. Always have a family member stay with you in the hospital. They can keep a closer eye on you and act as your advocate.
10. Don't be afraid to ask for help from your loved ones. People have a tendency to help you out when it's convenient for them. Sometimes though that's not when the treatment is or the doctor is available. Tell people exactly what you want from them.
In regards to Sirena; I don't know if she is still active with this website. If you look at her postings, it appears her last one was December of 2011. Not sure what that means..
Lastly; I hope you're doing okay Mona. I would imagine if your doing chemo and/or RAD, you should be finishing up soon. If you're going with both, be prepared to be tired for a year. No kidding on that one. Keep your chin up and fight the good fight. You can do it!
Best,
Karla Platt
Hello Karla,
I just read your post here. I am my oldest brother's advocate in this recent dx of ONB/ENB. I work am not new to the world of cancer as our father had GBM and was dx in 2011 and passed in 2013. To have my brother be dx with a tumor is just so frustrating and hard on us all.. especially him.
We are in the process of choosing his surgeon/facility. I live in Seattle, WA and he's in Oregon. I work for BrainCancer.org and helped my dad a great deal with his brain tumor and work in teh field for last four years now. I know a lot and can be of great help to my brother in this. Since you have a lot of experience in this, I would love to talk with you more.
We are considering UCSF and John Wayne Centers in CA. I have reached out to Dana Farber...not much experience and would like to talk to MD Anderson and others... You mentioned several in your post...
My brother's is a Grade 2 pathology and we're awaiting Kadish Staging. It has minimal intradural extension and is mostly confined to endonasal cavity and involves the septum primarily. He will need a periocranial flap. Unsure on radiation and chemo... but likely will do radiation for sure and wanting to get opinions on chemo and what IS working to keep these at bay long term! HE is an otherwise health 54 year old with great outlook since a negative pet scan.
Sounds like the neck radiation is a strong consideration... Since your husband had radiation initially after surgery, what type of radiation did he have after recurrence in lymph nodes? We were told they would likely max out on radiation in first go around...
Would love to talk more. You can email me at mmbarrett@me.com .
Thank you and all the best to your husband.
Maria Barrett
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13 Year Survivor
It's been 13 years now and I have had no major issues or scares. I stopped getting MRI's and annual checkups three years ago, and other than getting old and fat, I am in good health. I still cannot smell but that has not slowed me from eating! I also still have a good sense of taste and humor (for the most part). Of course the older, I get (now 53), I worry more and more about the big C returning. I have had it so easy over the last few years, I lost track of how lucky I was and blessed I have been. Anyway, God bless you all. I know the not knowing and waiting is the worst part. Just stay strong and keep moving forward!
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Suvivor for 24 years
Hi This is the story about my Dad. He was diagnose with Esthesioneuroblastoma is 1992. It was stage C grade 3. It was extended to orbit, intracraneal compartiment and base skull. He went through hell. He had a major Surgery when they remove the tumor. He suffered complications after the surgery he had an infection with intracraneal hemorragea. He survived.
He went through the maximun radiation that a person can received. He got almost a full 6 months of radiation. He lost his nose so they had to do facial reconstruction. However, he is still alive. Every year he goes back to be re-evaluated and no signs of the cancer back. Finally 4 years ago the doctor clear him. He had so many limitations that make his life a litle difficult at times. He has to use irrigations for life since he lost all the nasal cavities, his base skull was removed and he had a metalic for replacement and he gets so many headaches due to all the damage and years of irrigation on the area but hey HE is still alive, he is healthy, he continues with his profession, he is a GYN doctor and on top he lives in Cuba.
His surgeon was the best Dr. Shah, Jatin Head and Neck Oncology at the New York Memorial Sloan Kettering. I called him my family angel. HE is the best!!
There is hope, don't give up. It is better to be aggressive since the begining, don't try to go the easy way go aggressive like my dad did. He also didn't had a choice because the tumor was too advance he was terminal doctor gave him only a month to live and look 24 years later he is still here!! So please if you have any question about it ask me I am here to help!
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Phantosmia
I was diagnosed with esthesioneurblastoma in April of 2017. I have had three surgeries - two to remove the tumor because there was tumor remaining after the first surgery and one to remove a blood/clot brain bleed caused by the first surgery. I switched to a University of Michigan doctor after getting a second opinion which was the best thing I could have done. I have almost completed my fourth week of radiation and have two weeks to go. The worst side effect that I have had is a rare side effect of head and neck radiation called phantosmia. I am experiencing an AWFUL odor all of the time which has also affected my taste making food taste awful and impossible to eat. My doctor has prescribed anit-siezure and anti-nausea medications which take the edge off but I am drinking my meals and just doing my best to get them down. Has anyone else suffered from phantosmia and, if so, did it go away after your radiation treatments were completed? I would greatly appreciate any information I could get. Thanks so much. And to all my fellow esthesioneuroblastoma warriors - keep up the fight
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ENB AND SLEEP
I was treated for ENB in my sphenoid sinus in 2009-2010 at age 63. I had multiple sinus surgeries, 33 radiation treatments with chemo, and four months of chemo. I went through many of the pains and troubles described in this blog. While grateful to be alive, radiotherapy left me with permanent collateral damage in several ways.
My worst problem is a complete inability to sleep naturally. I never doze, nap, yawn, feel sleepy or sleep naturally. Under the care of several fine doctors, I use various sleep aids nightly. Nevertheless, I live with great fatigue. I am otherwise in good health and have no anxiety issues.
I'd like to blog with any ENB survivors that have an extreme sleep issue.
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Newly diagnosed with ENB
I have been diagnosed with Esthesioneuroblastoma in April. I went in for a nasal polyps removal, but when trying to remove, it was determined to be a tumor. They could only do a biopsy. Biopsy results showed Esthesioneuroblastoma. MRI showed my tumor size as 4.6x4.2x1.7. It is in my right nasal cavity and ethmoid sinus, and starting to extend into dura. They did not have enough tissue to determine my grade. My surgery is scheduled for next week at MD Anderson.
My doctors have determined that surgery followed by radiation of 6 weeks, as the current treatment plan. I will know more once they do the surgery and the grading.
My doctors will be doing the surgery all endoscopically. I have been told that they may do craniotomy if they do not get good margins endoscopically.
I have also read about elective neck irradiation (ENI), that might help in reducing recurrences. For those of you that had ENI, did that help in preventing recurrences, and did you have any side effects that persisted?
And did any of you also have chemo - either concurrently or after radiation?
Any suggestions and/or recommendations for the treatment and what I should be watching out for?
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Newly diagnosedraym372 said:Newly diagnosed with ENB
I have been diagnosed with Esthesioneuroblastoma in April. I went in for a nasal polyps removal, but when trying to remove, it was determined to be a tumor. They could only do a biopsy. Biopsy results showed Esthesioneuroblastoma. MRI showed my tumor size as 4.6x4.2x1.7. It is in my right nasal cavity and ethmoid sinus, and starting to extend into dura. They did not have enough tissue to determine my grade. My surgery is scheduled for next week at MD Anderson.
My doctors have determined that surgery followed by radiation of 6 weeks, as the current treatment plan. I will know more once they do the surgery and the grading.
My doctors will be doing the surgery all endoscopically. I have been told that they may do craniotomy if they do not get good margins endoscopically.
I have also read about elective neck irradiation (ENI), that might help in reducing recurrences. For those of you that had ENI, did that help in preventing recurrences, and did you have any side effects that persisted?
And did any of you also have chemo - either concurrently or after radiation?
Any suggestions and/or recommendations for the treatment and what I should be watching out for?
RayI had chemo followed by radiation before final surgery. I never did the ENI thing. All this was from JAN to JUL 2009. The docs told me up front that the chemo and radiation would not eliminate the tumor but only force it to encapsulate itself, making surgical removal easier and with much less blood loss. Chemo will make you sick, but they gave me antinausuals to help. You will also probably lose your hair (mine eventually grew back just fine). The effects of radiation treatments will be cumulative. You'll feel fine for the frist 2 weeks but then get progressively weaker. I had to have someone drive me to treatment the last two weeks. Since surgery in JUL 2009 I go back for a checkups annually. I'm coming up on 10 years.
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I only had chemo andraym372 said:Newly diagnosed with ENB
I have been diagnosed with Esthesioneuroblastoma in April. I went in for a nasal polyps removal, but when trying to remove, it was determined to be a tumor. They could only do a biopsy. Biopsy results showed Esthesioneuroblastoma. MRI showed my tumor size as 4.6x4.2x1.7. It is in my right nasal cavity and ethmoid sinus, and starting to extend into dura. They did not have enough tissue to determine my grade. My surgery is scheduled for next week at MD Anderson.
My doctors have determined that surgery followed by radiation of 6 weeks, as the current treatment plan. I will know more once they do the surgery and the grading.
My doctors will be doing the surgery all endoscopically. I have been told that they may do craniotomy if they do not get good margins endoscopically.
I have also read about elective neck irradiation (ENI), that might help in reducing recurrences. For those of you that had ENI, did that help in preventing recurrences, and did you have any side effects that persisted?
And did any of you also have chemo - either concurrently or after radiation?
Any suggestions and/or recommendations for the treatment and what I should be watching out for?
RayI only had chemo and radiation treatment and have been cancer free since August 2003. The chemo very nearly completely eliminated the tumor even though it was in very late stages of development. I did not have surgery as the followup radiation treatment destroyed what was left of the tumor. The chemo made me a little nauseous, but was not debilitating, and the radiation didn't really affect me at all other than drying out my sinuses. I did lose my hair, but it grew back just fine. I have had no major issues since then. The only long term effects have been dry sinuses and permanent anosmia, which oddly, has not affected my sense of taste.
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Update..lester537 said:16 years cancer free
Well it's been 16 years since I had esthesioneuroblastoma and six years since my last checkup. I still remain cancer free and hope to keep the trend up for a few more years! God bless you all. Keep the faith!
In my initial surgery, frozen section margins came back negative. However, the permanent section pathology report for one of the margins came back as positive.
I had a 2nd surgery done to get clear margins - both on frozen and permanent sections.
My tumor is grade 2 with proliferation index of 3%.
My doctors have recommended radiation to the primary tumor site. And also radiating the neck bilaterally as a precaution.
They are not recommending chemo.
I am planning to get second opinions on chemo, as there are several posts where chemo was effective.
If anyone with grade 2 had chemo, can you let me know.0 -
Update- Sept 2019 5 year survivor
Just wanted to provide an update for those who are newly diagnosed. I am coming up on 5 years after my surgery to remove my esthesioneuroblastoma. I lost my sense of smell after the surgery but no other effects due to surgery. The radiation to my face caused my tears to not drain properly but I have since had a surgery to correct that as well. My most recent MRI shows no sighs of the tumor returning. Hopefully, it will stay that way. Feel free to reach out. I don't mind sharing my experience if you want to talk to someone who has been through it.
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So glad to hear the positive newsMona4 said:Update- Sept 2019 5 year survivor
Just wanted to provide an update for those who are newly diagnosed. I am coming up on 5 years after my surgery to remove my esthesioneuroblastoma. I lost my sense of smell after the surgery but no other effects due to surgery. The radiation to my face caused my tears to not drain properly but I have since had a surgery to correct that as well. My most recent MRI shows no sighs of the tumor returning. Hopefully, it will stay that way. Feel free to reach out. I don't mind sharing my experience if you want to talk to someone who has been through it.
Hi Mona
So glad to hear the positive news. And thank you for posting on the site.
For many of us, that recently had treatment, it is very encouraging to read about others who have fought this and are doing well.
I had surgery and radiation. My radiation was both to my primary site as well as prophylactic radiation to my lymph nodes. I suffered from dry mouth, initially after my radiation treatment, and to an extent I still have it, but it has been lot better than what I had worried. I have dry eyes, and use refresh optive eye drops 4 times a day, and also use a eye ointment before going to sleep. I use Flouride trays for 10 minutes a day, and have been advised to continue to use them life-long. I also have been recommended to continue to do neck exercises 3 times a day. I think the neck exercises, are because of my radiation to my lymph nodes/neck.
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God bless, Mona. I am soMona4 said:Update- Sept 2019 5 year survivor
Just wanted to provide an update for those who are newly diagnosed. I am coming up on 5 years after my surgery to remove my esthesioneuroblastoma. I lost my sense of smell after the surgery but no other effects due to surgery. The radiation to my face caused my tears to not drain properly but I have since had a surgery to correct that as well. My most recent MRI shows no sighs of the tumor returning. Hopefully, it will stay that way. Feel free to reach out. I don't mind sharing my experience if you want to talk to someone who has been through it.
God bless, Mona. I am so happy for your continued good health. It has been almost 17 years for me, and so far so good. Unfortunately, if you are like me, the sense of smell will likely never return. However, that is not always a bad thing!
Love to you and may you have peace in your life.0 -
Ques about Hair loss
Hi everyone,
Not sure if people still see this thread. I got diagnosed with ENB in April end. Stage 4b, Kadish C and Hyams grade 2. Currently going through radiation to my nose and upper neck area.
I wanted to ask if any of you who went through radiation has hair loss at the back of your head. And if you did, did your hair ever come back and how long did it take?
Thanks,
Divya
0
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