Need advice

luvofmylif

My Husband had his port placed yesterday and we were supposed to start chemo and radiation tomorrow. He and I were prepared mentally to get this going. Already we were a little concerned because this week marks 8 weeks since his surgery and the standard is supposedly to start within 6 weeks of surgery. Well we got a call today and for various reasons they are delaying the start date till next week. My husband is upset as am I. That will be nine weeks and I am worried what these cancer cells are doing in his body. Has anybody had experience with this or have any words of wisdom?

fisrpotpe

not
with not knowing what they told him what they got during surgery it's hard to know.

good thing is the more time for surgery healing the better before chemo and radiation

to me when they do surgery first followed by chemo and radiation they use the followed treatments as clean up to get rid of the much smaller and many times not seen cells that linger.

what chemo and how many radiation treatments will he be getting?

i am not sure about this and it is just a guess but i doubt they want to run chemo thru the port only two days after having it put in.

the only negative is the two of you doing more of the waiting game.

prayers for wisdom and understanding with some strength.

john

CivilMatt

not to worry
Luvofmylif,

Well I never knew about the optimum time, but due to complications there was 11.7 weeks between surgery (BOT and lymph node left side of neck). I bet those dirty buggers were trying to regroup, but they were no match for my radiation surprise and Erbitux cocktail. There is not a lot you can do about it now, if your doctors are good and I bet they are the time spread will be calculated into the dosing formula. If you are worried, ask them. You have to remember the radiation and chemotherapy are pretty potent stuff, together, if done right will KILL the cancer completely. You are going to have bigger fish to fry (more important things to worry about). Chose your battles wisely.

You will do fine, really, really fine.

Best,

Matt

luvofmylif

CivilMatt said:

not to worry
Luvofmylif,

Well I never knew about the optimum time, but due to complications there was 11.7 weeks between surgery (BOT and lymph node left side of neck). I bet those dirty buggers were trying to regroup, but they were no match for my radiation surprise and Erbitux cocktail. There is not a lot you can do about it now, if your doctors are good and I bet they are the time spread will be calculated into the dosing formula. If you are worried, ask them. You have to remember the radiation and chemotherapy are pretty potent stuff, together, if done right will KILL the cancer completely. You are going to have bigger fish to fry (more important things to worry about). Chose your battles wisely.

You will do fine, really, really fine.

Best,

Matt

You are all so positive. I
You are all so positive. I appreciate that. i just dont want those cells landing anywhere like the lungs.

Joan

Thanks for the information. Oh, and he will be getting the 35 radiation trxs and 3 cisplatin treatments. Radiation will be to right neck area.

boardwalkgirl

I had about 7 weeks between
I had about 7 weeks between my surgery and the start of my treatments. Of course I didn't know until a week after surgery that there was any malignancy. They thought they had removed a branchial cleft cyst. They wanted to give my incision time to heal before starting radiation. I am sure the doctors know what they are doing. I know it is hard to wait though, I just wanted to get it started and over with.

longtermsurvivor

It will be ok
there is no research to support the seven, or eight weeks,,or whatever. I had about ten weeks the first time. The board record, if I remember correctly, is Tonsildad. He had an unbelievable delay, something like over three months. Time to practice your Zenn.....

Pat

cureitall66

I remember....
I remember someone on this forum telling me their doctor said to them "the cancer doesn't spread as fast as our imaginations likes to think it does". That was the "pot of gold" statement for us in the weeks of running from doctor to doctor and now getting our treatment actually started. Then just last week one of the doctors told us a few weeks or so does not make a difference with these types of cancers....it's waiting 6 months that can be the problem. I would not sweat that one. We got past that thought quickly. You will be fine.

phrannie51

As Matt said...not to worry....
I had my Fine needle biopsy on March 5th...and they finally got me in for chemo and rads on April 24th...I was a wreck like you, but after being on this board I found out there is no such thing as a quick response by these Dr.'s. Like Longtermsurvivor said, Tonsil Dad had the record for waiting, tho I thought it was closer to 4 months...YIKES. I can say that tho I didn't like the anxiety of waiting, I did manage to get a few things done that I otherwise wouldn't have been able to do.

The long and the short of it....by the time you're guys are half way thru treatment you won't even remember the delay...

p