Not good news at all

Pumakitty
Pumakitty Member Posts: 652
in Head and Neck Cancer #1
Dad got his results yesterday and they were not good. The cancer has come back in his tongue and lympe node. He is going Friday to meet with the surgeon about having the minor neck surgery to remove the node. This will stop most of the pain he is experiencing.

His other options are to have the surgery to remove his whole tongue, which might cure him. His other choice is to have chemo. The docotor told him that is there is only a 20% chance that the chemo will do anything for him and that he would only have about 1 year with doing chemo.

I am confused because there are others on here that are doing chemo for a reoccurance. Is this the same thing they were told? Dad is not planing on having the major surgery. He said he is 72 years old and does not want to put his slef through this. My mom and I agree. The cancer is not spread any place other then tongue and lympe node.


On more question how long were you in the hospitol with the neck surgery and dad wants to know how soon could you drive afterwards.

Kathy

Comments

  • sweetblood22
    sweetblood22 Member Posts: 3,228
    #2
    kathy
    I was signing on here, hoping to read a message of good news from you. I am sorry to learn of your father's recourrence. I will be keeping your dad and you guys in prayer.

    <3 dawn
  • Jimbo55
    Jimbo55 Member Posts: 590 Member
    #3
    Kathy
    So very sorry to hear the latest on your Dad. Can't offer any insight regarding your chemo question. My best to you and your family. Cheers.

    Jimbo
  • Skiffin16
    Skiffin16 Member Posts: 8,305 Member
    #4
    Thoughts & Prayers
    So sorry for the diagnosis....

    I don't have anything to offer other than the above.

    I did have a tumor (secondary) in my neck besides the tonsils (primary). For me the chemo completely dissolved the tumor. I had no surgery other than the tonsils coming out.

    In addition though I also had concurrent chemo (carboplatin)/rads for seven weeks after the initial nine weeks of chemo (cisplatin, taxotere and 5FU).

    You definitely have some tough choices....have you sought a second opinion?

    Best,
    John
  • Pumakitty
    Pumakitty Member Posts: 652
    #5
    Skiffin16 said:

    Thoughts & Prayers
    So sorry for the diagnosis....

    I don't have anything to offer other than the above.

    I did have a tumor (secondary) in my neck besides the tonsils (primary). For me the chemo completely dissolved the tumor. I had no surgery other than the tonsils coming out.

    In addition though I also had concurrent chemo (carboplatin)/rads for seven weeks after the initial nine weeks of chemo (cisplatin, taxotere and 5FU).

    You definitely have some tough choices....have you sought a second opinion?

    Best,
    John

    Talking about it
    We are waiting to see what the ENT has to say on Friday. I am wondering why the chemo doctor is so sure that the chemo will not do anything to control the cancer. That chemo does not do much for head and neck cancers.
  • Hondo
    Hondo Member Posts: 6,636 Member
    #6
    Pumakitty said:

    Talking about it
    We are waiting to see what the ENT has to say on Friday. I am wondering why the chemo doctor is so sure that the chemo will not do anything to control the cancer. That chemo does not do much for head and neck cancers.

    Hi Kathy

    Will be keeping you all in prayer on Friday, sorry about the news but don’t give up.

    Hondo
  • Carolinagal
    Carolinagal Member Posts: 91
    #7
    So sorry
    I'm so sorry to hear this. It's a nightmare to go through once but to have to do it again is even worse. When my Dad's cancer came back, the doctor said the chemo was to help control the symptoms - the pressure of the spreading tumor on his brain, but it would not cure him. I wish now for my own peace of mind that we had gotten a second opinion, not that it would have been different, but I would know that we had tried. You, your Dad and the rest of your family are in my thoughts and prayers.
  • Kent Cass
    Kent Cass Member Posts: 1,898 Member
    #8
    Hard Choices
    Very sorry to learn this news, Kathy. A 2nd opinion cannot hurt, but hopefully the ENT visit will be more Positive. Thing is, the options with reoccurence don't seem to be too many, and radical surgery seems typical if the objective is to completely rid one of the C in such a case. My info on the Chemo is that it only slows down the C, or temporarily stops it from growing, and also spreading. Unfortunately, the side-effects of the Chemo come into play with the kidneys and liver, so even going the Chemo route has it's hazards to be aware of- which might dictate how aggressive the Onco can be with a Chemo-only treatment.

    Awhile back there was a buzz about researchers in Australia (I think) that had developed a new Chemo-like treatment, where they had fooled the C to literally turn on itself and destroy itself, if memory serves me correctly. You might wanna ask your ENT and Onco if there are any such Chemo trials out there with promise.

    Again, Kathy, it saddens me greatly to learn of this news. The fighter your Dad is, no matter what choice he makes I know the C is in for a battle. Please keep us updated on what's what, and you take care, girl.

    Believe

    kcass
  • Pam M
    Pam M Member Posts: 2,196
    #9
    Pumakitty said:

    Talking about it
    We are waiting to see what the ENT has to say on Friday. I am wondering why the chemo doctor is so sure that the chemo will not do anything to control the cancer. That chemo does not do much for head and neck cancers.

    Sad Update
    Sorry you all are having to go through this. Before I started treatment, the surgeon I consulted told me that lymph nodes often do not respond completely to chemo radiation. My radiologist said he hoped chemorads would take care of it all - if not, I'd need surgery (I had to have the dissection after treatment).

    The way my docs explained it before I started treatment (induction chemo, followed by chemo rads) is that the chemo would knock the cancer down and stop spread and the radiation would finish the cancer off (ideally). For me, the chemo seemed to help a lot (my visible tumor shrank a LOT), but my doc said that if all we did was chemo, the tumors would rebound later, and begin to grow again. even with all that chemo and radiation, once treatment was done, one of my tumors survived treatment, and started to grow again and get more active.

    Hoping you all hear a more optimistic prognosis from the ENT.
  • connieprice1
    connieprice1 Member Posts: 300 Member
    #10
    Kathy, I am sorry to hear
    Kathy, I am sorry to hear this sad news. My wife Connie had chemo then radiation and after chemo she did a CTscan and they said they could not detect any tumors. She did 7 weeks of radiation afterwards as a precaution to make sure all c. cells were eradicated. It seems sometimes doctors don't tell us everything, I don't know why. I seen a friend of mine this week for the first time this year, he was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver. He is 70 and his doctor told him he didn't think he should try to get a transplanted liver. Although he is 70, he would like to at least try to get a new liver. Why couldn't he get a liver from an older donor, an older working liver would be ok with him. It is unacceptable to me that people die sometimes when doctors decide they are too old to receive the treatment they need or want. Sometimes I think it simply comes down to money! I hope your Dad gets better news from his ENT and gets some kind of planned action for survival. Some people would rather fight to the end than just be sent home and give up. My mother fought c. for 5 yrs. and the last time I seen her alive she told me that she had done everything her doctors had asked her to do for 5 yrs. and she couldn't understand why they had given up on her and sent her home to die. You should make sure you are there when he sees his doctor and make sure they know that he has been through too much already and that giving up is not an option. It is inappropriate and unexceptable! I will pray for your Dad, Sincerely Homer & Connie
  • BrianKrashpad
    BrianKrashpad Member Posts: 188
    #11
    Kent Cass said:

    Hard Choices
    Very sorry to learn this news, Kathy. A 2nd opinion cannot hurt, but hopefully the ENT visit will be more Positive. Thing is, the options with reoccurence don't seem to be too many, and radical surgery seems typical if the objective is to completely rid one of the C in such a case. My info on the Chemo is that it only slows down the C, or temporarily stops it from growing, and also spreading. Unfortunately, the side-effects of the Chemo come into play with the kidneys and liver, so even going the Chemo route has it's hazards to be aware of- which might dictate how aggressive the Onco can be with a Chemo-only treatment.

    Awhile back there was a buzz about researchers in Australia (I think) that had developed a new Chemo-like treatment, where they had fooled the C to literally turn on itself and destroy itself, if memory serves me correctly. You might wanna ask your ENT and Onco if there are any such Chemo trials out there with promise.

    Again, Kathy, it saddens me greatly to learn of this news. The fighter your Dad is, no matter what choice he makes I know the C is in for a battle. Please keep us updated on what's what, and you take care, girl.

    Believe

    kcass

    prayers
    Prayers and mojo sent. I don't know enough about this business to know why the chemo doc was so pessimistic. But as for driving home, I've had a neck dissection and a surgical biopsy, and even though the latter was a pretty minor operation I would not have wanted to drive home after it. The hospital probably wouldn't release the patient after undergoing a general anesthesia without someone to drive them home.

    Be well.
  • Pumakitty
    Pumakitty Member Posts: 652
    #12
    Thank you
    Your kind words and prayers mean so much to mom and I. I am still in shock from the about only 1 year. I scares me so bad to think about dad declining that fast. He is doing so good right now only the pain in his neck and ear.

    I know my mom's heart is breaking and I am trying so hard not to break down for her and my dad. The doctor did not tell my dad only a year, but I think he knows that could be the case.

    I will post tomorrow about the ENT visit. This doctor is so gloom and doom that I am sure he will say he has less time then that. I will need some cheering up tomorrow evening so just be prepared :)

    Love to all of you,

    Kathy

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