My dad is about to start radiation/chemo for base tongue cancer....

phrannie51

After reading Mikes post

about that nurse, I started to think about when I was first diagnosed....the appointment with the Oncologist took 3 hours and had my sister crying....he was SO full of news about side effects, possibilities....from deafness to inability to hold a pen and everything in between.  On the opposite side of the equation, the Rad doc, was absolutely glib...."you'll probably have a bad sunburn on your neck"...that was all he told me, and he delivered this proclomation with as much personality as his IMRT machine in 20 minutes. 

All Drs. are so different....don't get hung up on what one says....this is a lesson I knew nothing about when I started treatment, but learned so well as treatment and after-treatment has progressed.  

p 

longtermsurvivor

phrannie51 said:

After reading Mikes post

about that nurse, I started to think about when I was first diagnosed....the appointment with the Oncologist took 3 hours and had my sister crying....he was SO full of news about side effects, possibilities....from deafness to inability to hold a pen and everything in between.  On the opposite side of the equation, the Rad doc, was absolutely glib...."you'll probably have a bad sunburn on your neck"...that was all he told me, and he delivered this proclomation with as much personality as his IMRT machine in 20 minutes. 

All Drs. are so different....don't get hung up on what one says....this is a lesson I knew nothing about when I started treatment, but learned so well as treatment and after-treatment has progressed.  

p 

Ain't it the truth

YOu know, I had to smile.  With my second rads I had a very good radiation oncologist.  He was a nice guy too.  As you might imagine, second rads carrys a pretty high risk of problems, although the list of problems itself is identical to the first rads.  So this guy gets to the informed consent part of my visit, and he just smiles at me and asks 'just how much of this informed consent do yiou want to hear?"  I kinda chuckled and said "none." 

 

What's the point sometimes?   I had cancer.  Terminal without this treatment.  By being there I'd already decided it was time to jump in and swim....

 

Pat

dunedintech

Attitude is Key

AJG - sorry to hear about your Father. Some great comments and advice from all. Not sure if helps but I worked through treatment although output was not the best and somedays I clocked in for only an hour. However for me I needed the feeling of being semi normal plus it broke the day up after getting radiated. Your Father needs to work out what works best for him to get through it. There is no right or wrong !

I hope the meet with the Radiation oncologist is slightly more cheerier.