Tonsil Cancer Diagnosis

gdawg55

petroglyph said:

I too have been diagnosed

I too have been diagnosed with head and neck cancer and have undergone a major neck resection. A dozen or so biopsy's. I'm not alive to spread gibberish. I was here trying to support the op, which I haven't seen return. Nor any effort from you attempting to do so other than try to argue with me, which is now over.

You seem to take issue with my belief on processed sugar. I find that forums are most beneficial when ideas are debated and not when posters are attacked. 

Are you not aware that obesity has over taken heart disease as the number one killer in this country? I too love the taste of ice cream, sweets etc., but I am not going to be ignorant and think they are harmless.

At your suggestion, since the op has seem to have left, I will sign out. Now that I have left because it is distateful for me to continue this negative dialogue with you, I hope you will check in and try to help the op with other suggestions other than your opinions on diet.

Good luck, Ron..I hope you beat this disease

PS; my doctors have done nothing but complement me on my progress, that includes my surgeon at the Mayo Clinic, my ent, my oncologist, second ent, my pcp, my radiologist and my naturopath, I am not aware of what "your drs have to say", but as you wish, good bye Ron Silver

Are you aware by chance of the major contributing factors to salivary gland cancer and thyroid cancer is? Those are the things people should know so they can make rational informed decisions, but that is jmho.

I haven't gone anywhere, just

I haven't gone anywhere, just don't have any new info to add.  I should know more next week after my meeting with the docs.

 

Thanks for your input.

debbiejeanne

i just want to say welcome to

i just want to say welcome to our family but i'm sorry you need to be here.  i had a neck dissection 2.5 yrs ago and had a rough time with recovering.  it probably took me 2 months to recover from that.  others have had it tho and recovered in a normal amount of time so its hard to say what to expect.  praying for all to go well whatever the tx is and for you to be cancer free soon.

God bless you,

dj

gdawg55

debbiejeanne said:

i just want to say welcome to

i just want to say welcome to our family but i'm sorry you need to be here.  i had a neck dissection 2.5 yrs ago and had a rough time with recovering.  it probably took me 2 months to recover from that.  others have had it tho and recovered in a normal amount of time so its hard to say what to expect.  praying for all to go well whatever the tx is and for you to be cancer free soon.

God bless you,

dj

Thank you, debbiejeanne for

Thank you, debbiejeanne for the well wishes and prayers.  I really appreciate it.

petroglyph

Ron Silver said:

No anger just copy and paste.

No anger just copy and paste.  Your assertions are so off base, so far from what OUR doctors recommend, and baseless.  This is a head and neck cancer forum.  Many of us enjoy eating ice cream and other sweet treats.  To compare eating foods with processed sugar with smoking is absurd.  Absurd nonsense.  Spread your absurd nonsense somewhere else.  Cancer is difficult, the treatments are difficult, we don't need nonsense posts like yours.  Good bye.

I hope you continue to

I hope you continue to post.

I see that you have 76 posts, I looked and can not find them, a link that would let any of us search a posters posts would be great, so to help follow a line of reasoning.

Gdawg it is also my understanding that H&N is very curable. Definately a pita, but fixable. You will come out the other side. 

Like "Forest Gump" and the chocolates.

Getting good advice is like sifting for gold.

gdawg55

gdawg55 said:

Thank you, debbiejeanne for

Thank you, debbiejeanne for the well wishes and prayers.  I really appreciate it.

Update

Well, I've had some progress I guess since I last posted.

I got my pathology and CT scan results from the doctor (hard copies) during a follow up visit.  The biopsy says basaloid squamous carcinoma, P16 positive.  Basaloid is a new term to me...anyone know what that means?  Got to see my digital CT scans and nothing is showing up in the neck or chest area outside of the left tonsil.

 

Had my second opinion appointment today (thanks to everyone that suggested that).  Very glad I went to see another doctor.  He pretty much told me the same thing as the other ENT, but did offer some helpful additional information.  He has me an appointment to meet with a radiologist to get their oppinion as well (something the first doctor never mentioned or offered).  This cancer facility has Tomo radiation which I hear is recommended for head and neck cancer.  Still hoping I don't have to go down that road.  My second opinion doctor thinks the cancer is just in my tonsil and surgery will be all that's required, but wants me to see the radiologist for a second look.  They would like a PET scan, but my insurance provider is being stubborn on that.  He thinks if he and the radiologist request a PET then maybe the insurance company will agree.  A PET scan may help me avoid the neck dissection if nothing is seen in the scan.  First doctor had not luck so I had a CT scan instead.

As with all this, I'm now in the waiting mode again.  Will meet with radiologist Friday and then again with the ENT I saw today (second opinion dr) on Monday next week.  I think I like this outfit a little better and will go with them.  They have really been on top of things since I called last week wanting a second opinion appointment.  As for the first doctor I saw, I'm still waiting on his staff to call me with dates for surgery....been waiting to hear from them for over a week now.  I'm not getting a warm fuzzy from them at all.

Anyway, thanks for listening.

 

phrannie51

gdawg55 said:

Update

Well, I've had some progress I guess since I last posted.

I got my pathology and CT scan results from the doctor (hard copies) during a follow up visit.  The biopsy says basaloid squamous carcinoma, P16 positive.  Basaloid is a new term to me...anyone know what that means?  Got to see my digital CT scans and nothing is showing up in the neck or chest area outside of the left tonsil.

 

Had my second opinion appointment today (thanks to everyone that suggested that).  Very glad I went to see another doctor.  He pretty much told me the same thing as the other ENT, but did offer some helpful additional information.  He has me an appointment to meet with a radiologist to get their oppinion as well (something the first doctor never mentioned or offered).  This cancer facility has Tomo radiation which I hear is recommended for head and neck cancer.  Still hoping I don't have to go down that road.  My second opinion doctor thinks the cancer is just in my tonsil and surgery will be all that's required, but wants me to see the radiologist for a second look.  They would like a PET scan, but my insurance provider is being stubborn on that.  He thinks if he and the radiologist request a PET then maybe the insurance company will agree.  A PET scan may help me avoid the neck dissection if nothing is seen in the scan.  First doctor had not luck so I had a CT scan instead.

As with all this, I'm now in the waiting mode again.  Will meet with radiologist Friday and then again with the ENT I saw today (second opinion dr) on Monday next week.  I think I like this outfit a little better and will go with them.  They have really been on top of things since I called last week wanting a second opinion appointment.  As for the first doctor I saw, I'm still waiting on his staff to call me with dates for surgery....been waiting to hear from them for over a week now.  I'm not getting a warm fuzzy from them at all.

Anyway, thanks for listening.

 

I am so glad....

you went ahead and got a second opinion and they now have you on the road to get this dealt with.  How great it must feel to know that the Drs. are going to work as a team to get you well.  You're only waiting till Friday, that's not bad at all . 

Oh...I had to look up basaloid SCC....and this is what I found.

Basaloid squamous cell carcinoma is a specific subtype of squamous cell carcinoma, a type of skin cancer.

The only other thing that had something with the word "basaloid" was something about forklifts....LOL....

p

Hondo

gdawg55 said:

Update

Well, I've had some progress I guess since I last posted.

I got my pathology and CT scan results from the doctor (hard copies) during a follow up visit.  The biopsy says basaloid squamous carcinoma, P16 positive.  Basaloid is a new term to me...anyone know what that means?  Got to see my digital CT scans and nothing is showing up in the neck or chest area outside of the left tonsil.

 

Had my second opinion appointment today (thanks to everyone that suggested that).  Very glad I went to see another doctor.  He pretty much told me the same thing as the other ENT, but did offer some helpful additional information.  He has me an appointment to meet with a radiologist to get their oppinion as well (something the first doctor never mentioned or offered).  This cancer facility has Tomo radiation which I hear is recommended for head and neck cancer.  Still hoping I don't have to go down that road.  My second opinion doctor thinks the cancer is just in my tonsil and surgery will be all that's required, but wants me to see the radiologist for a second look.  They would like a PET scan, but my insurance provider is being stubborn on that.  He thinks if he and the radiologist request a PET then maybe the insurance company will agree.  A PET scan may help me avoid the neck dissection if nothing is seen in the scan.  First doctor had not luck so I had a CT scan instead.

As with all this, I'm now in the waiting mode again.  Will meet with radiologist Friday and then again with the ENT I saw today (second opinion dr) on Monday next week.  I think I like this outfit a little better and will go with them.  They have really been on top of things since I called last week wanting a second opinion appointment.  As for the first doctor I saw, I'm still waiting on his staff to call me with dates for surgery....been waiting to hear from them for over a week now.  I'm not getting a warm fuzzy from them at all.

Anyway, thanks for listening.

 

Hi gdawg

 

Sorry to hear all the problems with insurance but I agree with the doctors if you can get both of them requesting the PET they will have to approve it. Also glad they think it is all in one place so you don’t need the radiation but they might want you to take Chemo, will need to just wait and see. Any way it sounds like you are in good hands, so for now with just keep you in my thoughts and prayers.

 

Tim Hondo

Hondo

Ron Silver said:

"And IMO, whatever you are

"And IMO, whatever you are doing get any sugar you can out of your diet. That is what cancer eats is sugar, start right now starving it out of your body. Single processed sugar like good fruit is better than two step processed sugar like, organic brown or dried cane sugar, and worst of all is that triple processed white sugar. That is poison as sure as smoking is bad. I can't believe it is recommended as a food source by the ama. Thats another story."

 Nonsense.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/cancer/in-depth/cancer-causes/art-20044714?pg=2

Myth: People with cancer shouldn't eat sugar, since it can cause cancer to grow faster.

 

Fact: Sugar doesn't make cancer grow faster. All cells, including cancer cells, depend on blood sugar (glucose) for energy. But giving more sugar to cancer cells doesn't speed their growth. Likewise, depriving cancer cells of sugar doesn't slow their growth.

This misconception may be based in part on a misunderstanding of positron emission tomography (PET) scans, which use a small amount of radioactive tracer — typically a form of glucose. All tissues in your body absorb some of this tracer, but tissues that are using more energy — including cancer cells — absorb greater amounts. For this reason, some people have concluded that cancer cells grow faster on sugar. But this isn't true.

 http://www.cancercenter.com/discussions/blog/does-sugar-feed-cancer/

Does sugar 'feed' cancer?

 

CTCA 
July 02, 2013

     

Websites promoting the idea that sugar “feeds” cancer suggest that eating foods with sugar makes cancer grow faster. As a result, some cancer patients forego eating any sugar, eliminating beneficial foods, such as fruits, that contain essential nutrients.

There is no conclusive research on human subjects to prove that sugar makes cancerous cells grow and metastasize. Avoiding foods with processed sugar is a good idea in general, but eliminating foods with natural sugar won’t stop cancer cells from dividing.

 

 

Sugar

 I agree this is not the place to debate about what you are eating as some of us have no choice, it is a day to day victory just staying alive.  

 

 

Hondo

 

gdawg55

Hondo said:

Hi gdawg

 

Sorry to hear all the problems with insurance but I agree with the doctors if you can get both of them requesting the PET they will have to approve it. Also glad they think it is all in one place so you don’t need the radiation but they might want you to take Chemo, will need to just wait and see. Any way it sounds like you are in good hands, so for now with just keep you in my thoughts and prayers.

 

Tim Hondo

Thanks, Hondo and

Thanks, Hondo and Phrannie51.  I appreciate your responses.  Looking forward to moving forward and getting this cancer out of my system.

petroglyph

Hondo said:

Sugar

 I agree this is not the place to debate about what you are eating as some of us have no choice, it is a day to day victory just staying alive.  

 

 

Hondo

 

Have no choice, what? So we

Have no choice, what? So we are supposed to believe we are helpless? I thought that is why people came here or any forum for? For some info they didn't have. I see you are a longer survivor than I and also everyone here seems to want to go the alopathic route.

If you are concious you have choices. I am glad the op got a second opinion. How about somebody coming on here and suggesting talking to the state insurance commissioner and not letting his insurance short change him? The guy is in for the fight of his life, biting my **** about diet choices doesn't help him one bit.

If no one here can figure out that we need to be as healthy as we can to help our bodies immune systems fight this disease, I am in the wrong place. Johns Hopkins has published several articles saying that we all have cancer about 4 times in our lives. It is when our immune systems are challenged is when the cancer gets out of control and forms tumors. Eventually when the rads or the chemo [if thats the route you go] are done, it will be up to your body to fight off what is left. That [paragphrased] is from Johns Hopkins.

I can't believe those who will just sit around waiting for the next referral to see another dr. to get another referral and wait until after some holiday when their dr. gets back from skiing and can see them. 

You got to fight, like your life depends on it. Fight it with everything you got. You CAN NOT leave this up to someone else. We will all have cancer in our bodies for the rest of our lives. It may be too small to show up on a catscan, but it's there. It's there in people who have never been diagnosed, but we don't have to lay down. There are things you can do to help yourself. You have got to be your best advocate, because you are the only one who can be. Never give up, never let anyone tell you there "is nothing you can do" BS. We may not have the right marker tested. You want to win this battle, be as healthy as you can be.

Even if you choose to not decide, you have still made a choice.

Sorry it sucks, Hondo, I really am. And each day we get out of bed is a blessing. But the fact we did get out of bed didn't happen by itself, we chose too.

 

Good luck, Gdawg

Zeanna

phrannie51 said:

I am so glad....

you went ahead and got a second opinion and they now have you on the road to get this dealt with.  How great it must feel to know that the Drs. are going to work as a team to get you well.  You're only waiting till Friday, that's not bad at all . 

Oh...I had to look up basaloid SCC....and this is what I found.

Basaloid squamous cell carcinoma is a specific subtype of squamous cell carcinoma, a type of skin cancer.

The only other thing that had something with the word "basaloid" was something about forklifts....LOL....

p

Love your attitude Phrannie51

Hi Phrannie - I'm new to this site and have been reading everyone's current commentary on our various H&N situations or experiences, and I have to say that I truly enjoyed your positivity and helpfulness. I have never posted on a discussion forum previously so I'm a bit of a fish out of water that way.

I was given a 4 year median survival when I was thoroughly tested pre-treatments and I'm happy to say I made the 5 year mark this summer. It took a long time to get those tests done but there's a definite need for patience at that time because hey - you want them to get it right, right? And unfortunately, we need to remind ourselves that we're not the only one waiting, and we're not any more important than the next person dealing with these parallel struggles.

I want to say to everyone to keep in mind that each of us is different biologically so what may work for some may not work for others, and that's the reason that the medical professionals might take some time figuring exactly what "your" situation is - genetically & biologically, as well as what stage we are at when they meet us.  

Doctors are not God, they don't know everything but I believe the majority of them do the best they can for us. I'm just grateful for the small kindnesses along the way that helped to get me through all of this so far and I want to wish you well my dear. You're a breath of fresh air with your loving support.

Many thanks - Zeanna

TracyLynn72

gdawg55 said:

Thank you Bill.  I appreciate

Thank you Bill.  I appreciate the link and advice.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that surgery and neck dissection will be all that's required.  I will most definitely reach out for a second opinion after I've had my discussion with my ENT on Nov 25.  I believe something like this is important enough to seek other opinions.  I"m in South Carolina so no major cancer centers around here.  I think MUSC in Charleston maybe the closest in my state, or maybe Emory in Atlanta out of state.

Thanks again.

I'm in NC

and can NOT say enough good things about Levine Cancer Center.  They are amazing!!  Main location is in Charlotte, NC.

 

Wishing you the very best! 

gdawg55

TracyLynn72 said:

I'm in NC

and can NOT say enough good things about Levine Cancer Center.  They are amazing!!  Main location is in Charlotte, NC.

 

Wishing you the very best! 

Thank you, TracyLynn72.  I

Thank you, TracyLynn72.  I was very impressed with CMC about 5 years ago when I donated a kidney to my father.  They were top notch and made the process as easy as possible for the both of us.  Is the Levine Cancer Center part of CMC?  I don't live far from Charlotte....as a matter of fact the company I work for is moving to the Charlotte area in a couple of years so may end up seeing someone there in the future.

For now, I think I've really found a good fit at the Gibbs Cancer Center here in the Upstate and plan to have my treatment done with them.  Still trying to decide what treatment route to take.  They are taking my case in front our their head and neck cancer board next week so I should know a bit more then.  For now it looks like surgery or radiation (or possibly both).

 

Thanks again.

Crazymom

tonsil

Hi I had left tonsil and tow left lymph nodes.  I wanted my tonsils out and they said not.  I have 6 weeks of chemo and then 6 weeks of radiation.  It was painful, but I am now three years out and cancer free.  MD Anderson just moved me from "Cancer Patient "  to  "Cancer Survivor"  After twpo years your chances of recurrnace are greatly reduced.  I am feeling find and have a good life, but it was hard.  The radiation was very painful.   I did not have the neck dissection.  Good luck....cancer is a beast   do whatever you can to stop it.

 

Ann