Nasopharyngeal carcinoma

james chambliss

You are not alone
Hi,

My name is James and as the others. I to had NPC. I am 39 and the cancer was found when i was 38. The treatments and chemo will be hard. I can tell you this. You will survive and you will get better. It will take time. We are here for you. You will have a lot of questions and it is o.k. to ask anything. We will understand and try to help you in every way we can. Sending you prayers and love. If you ever need to talk. Give me a call. 562-375-1205.


James

jeepman

Hang in there.
You can beat this. This site has made like much easier for me. I am entering my second week of treatment this Monday and it has been so much easier having this great bunch of folks to lean on. These guys have been there and done that, they rock. You will beat this thing and be stronger.

Blessings and prayers to you and your family.

Mike

Goalie

Tuongvi said:

Hi Cathelen
I am also half Vietnamses. My husband is 47 years old and is also Vietnamses. He has just finished with his treatment for NPC stage 3 at Johns Hopkins hospital 1week ago so he is still vey sick and weak. His treatment was exactly like your.Chemo (cisplatin and 5FU) and 35 radiations. He is - for EB but + for HPV. My advice is relax and enjoy the food that you like while you can. As I understand this type of cancer is very responsive to chemo/radiation treatment and you can beat it. My husdand handled the chemo fine but the radiation was very brutal. It is definitely
is a very aggressive treatment. The last 4 weeks of the treatment is the hardest and my husband had to depend on the feeding tube 100% for his nutrient and hydration since he could not even swallow liquid and is still using it now.
My husdand did work a little bit for the first 3 weeks then stayed home for the rest of the treatment and he is still home now 1 week post treatment Where are you being treated? Make sure you are going to experts in the head and neck cancer.
Stay strong. It is not easy but you can do it.

Good to hear finally
Tuongvi, I am glad to hear from you that your husband made it even though it was little fun. We are neighbors here in Olney and I believe we did offer to help if we could. I am six months ahead of you and doing very well. Even though I went the other way to Washington so I could go to Georgetown, if I got this now I would go right here to Montgomery General because Georgetown onco and rad docs are coming up here now. Still, I went here to MGH for hydration by infusion and if your husband is still in need of this you should consider it. I did not have a tube and late in treatment and for the following month I was using all my energy for eating and not for drinking and so would pop up there for a liter a couple of days a week. Anyway, if there's anything we can do still, let us know. Doug

Cathelen72

And so it begins.....
Good evening everyone! I would like say thank you again for all of your responses. It really has helped keep me at peace. I start my treatments tomorrow. I am being treated at the Dana Farber Cancer Instutute in Boston. Not sure if any of you have had treatment there but I find it to be th most amazing place. It's so calming there and my oncology team are so amazing. I still can't help but feel scared. I had my first trial run with my mask on today. It was fine. I just remained calm and found a happy place in my head. I actually think I fell asleep for a moment or two. Tomorrow I start with chemotherapy and end the day with radiation. I suppose all I can do is wait for the side effects to start hitting me. I am happy to be armed with the knowledge you all have provided too me. I have given inn and started taking an anti anxiety pill. At first I felt guilty that I did but now I know it is here to help me. What it doesn't help with is my anger. I am still so angry that this cancer is causing a huge dent in my life and I hate it. I am tired and should get some sleep. I'll keep you all posted.

Happy and positive thoughts

Catherine

sweetblood22

Cathelen72 said:

And so it begins.....
Good evening everyone! I would like say thank you again for all of your responses. It really has helped keep me at peace. I start my treatments tomorrow. I am being treated at the Dana Farber Cancer Instutute in Boston. Not sure if any of you have had treatment there but I find it to be th most amazing place. It's so calming there and my oncology team are so amazing. I still can't help but feel scared. I had my first trial run with my mask on today. It was fine. I just remained calm and found a happy place in my head. I actually think I fell asleep for a moment or two. Tomorrow I start with chemotherapy and end the day with radiation. I suppose all I can do is wait for the side effects to start hitting me. I am happy to be armed with the knowledge you all have provided too me. I have given inn and started taking an anti anxiety pill. At first I felt guilty that I did but now I know it is here to help me. What it doesn't help with is my anger. I am still so angry that this cancer is causing a huge dent in my life and I hate it. I am tired and should get some sleep. I'll keep you all posted.

Happy and positive thoughts

Catherine

Anger can be good...
Baby steps Catherine, baby steps. It is so much to cope with. You will find yourself moving thru one or more of the stages of grief at any moment. This is all normal. I am glad that you are taking an anti anxiety. That will help.

Back to the anger. Just channel that anger at the right thing. Not at yourself or at others or at God or the universe - but channel it at the cancer. When you are at chemo, picture each round of that as an angry little army battling and slaying the invader. Picture that radiation machine zapping anything that chemo hopefully won't miss. Get angry, get mean and kick it's arse!

Hondo

sweetblood22 said:

Anger can be good...
Baby steps Catherine, baby steps. It is so much to cope with. You will find yourself moving thru one or more of the stages of grief at any moment. This is all normal. I am glad that you are taking an anti anxiety. That will help.

Back to the anger. Just channel that anger at the right thing. Not at yourself or at others or at God or the universe - but channel it at the cancer. When you are at chemo, picture each round of that as an angry little army battling and slaying the invader. Picture that radiation machine zapping anything that chemo hopefully won't miss. Get angry, get mean and kick it's arse!

Hi Cathelen

My hopes and prayers are with you as you begin your journey, I am glad to hear your are positive about your teem who will be doing your Rad and Chemo. None of us understand this C stuff or why we are the ones with it, when I would hear about C I always thought thats for someone else not me. I think at times we all get angry but it was mostly because of the unknown, channel your anger into positive thinking and go fight this C with everything you have. We will all be here for you to help you cross the finish line.

Wishing you the best
Hondo

Tuongvi

Cathelen72 said:

THANK YOU!
Thank you all! Its incredible how much better I feel after reaching out. I don't feel so alone anymore. Here is a bit more info on my case. They have found the primary source right in the center of my nasopharynx and also a mass to the left. Also there are a few lymph nodes in the left side and center of my neck that have tumors. No surgery for me right now other than the PEG tube. My doctors believe that 35 radiation treatments with Chemo (every third week (cisplatin)) for the next 3 weeks followed by more chemo (cisplatin and 5FU) for 2 more months could be the answer. They suspect that the EB Virus and my being half Vietnamese might have a role with this cancer. I cant help but keep shaking my head in disbelief.

Here is a question....Did most of you continue working or try to through your treatments?

six weeks post treatment
Sorry that you are on the same boat. I am 47 Vietnamese male with an wonderful Amerasian wife and three buetiful young children. I was diagonosed with stage III NPC in Jan 2011. I got three sessions of chemo Cisplatin and FU5 followed by 35 session of radiation in conjunction with 5 sessions of Cisplatin. I was able to work haft time in an office environment in the first phase, after chemo injection I was pretty tire and jitterering for almost a week. I decided to take off work completely during radiation since I had enought leave from work. Two weeks into radiation I was pretty fatique and tire soon after even if I wanted to work I don't think I was able to. Four weeks after treatment I started ventured back to the office I lasted for about three or four hours a aday. This week I am putting in more hours and seem to last almost a full day at work. Everybody is different just listen to your body. Good luck to you everything will be alright our friends on this network can attest to that.
Thuy

Christmas

One day at a time
Hi, Catherine:

I'm another NPC survivor wishing you the best on your treatment. I think that most cancers are found "unexpectedly". I don't believe that there are any reasons, so don't even focus on that. Stay optimistic because NPC has a very high survival rate.

Don't worry about what to expect because the effects of the treatment vary from patient to patient. I'm not sure if you can make plans about working or not working. But your body will let you know.

Let your friends and family take care of you. This is the time to focus on yourself and yourself only.

Please post questions as you progress through treatment. I don't think that you need to know what everyone else went through because your reaction to the treatment may be different than someone else.

Sending you positive thoughts ---