adjuvant chemo

sumarah8
sumarah8 Member Posts: 32
in Head and Neck Cancer #1
Hi everybody! this week would be my last week for radiation, but after 1 month i still have adjuvant chemo(3 cycles). I am NPC stage 2b and im just wondering if somebody had this kind of treatment? My doc told me it is not as bad as compared to 7 days of radiation with one day chemo every three weeks, atleast im done with this. But for the adjuvant chemo I am so scared of this!

God bless everybody and advance Happy thanksgiving to all!

Comments

  • Hondo
    Hondo Member Posts: 6,636 Member
    #2
    Hi sumarah

    My first treatment for my NPC was just Radiation 35 day with no chemo. It came back a year later and I had to do it all over again but that time I did radiation and chemo. Can’t remember the Chemo type as it’s been almost 8 years ago. The Chemo might put you down on the day you take it but to me the radiation was far worse.

    Like John said stay positive
    Hondo
  • Skiffin16
    Skiffin16 Member Posts: 8,305 Member
    #3
    Similar
    Only from a different approach...

    I was STGIII SCC Tonsil Cancer...

    I started with the nine weeks (three week cycles) of chemo (cisplatin, taxotere and 5FU), then seven weeks of concurrent, weekly carboplatin and 35 daily rads session.

    It was tough, but doable....with what you have been through already I'm sure you'll do just fine.

    For me (and I think everyone else), the radiation is the worse part of treatment anyways. It's the one with the most long term side effects. Though there were a few that have some nasty long term side effects from cisplatin primarily.

    Stay positive and realize you are on the final few feet of the road.

    Best,
    John
  • NJR
    NJR Member Posts: 82
    #4
    I am an exception
    For almost everyone I have known the Radiation was the worst part, however, by comparison it was a walk in the park to me. Right up till the last two or three treatments which were in conjunction with the cisplatin.

    The chemo was my worst nightmare beginning like clockwork 5 days following the treatment. I have no memory of it but after being hospitalized after the first round I asked to be allowed to die. Thank heaven I turned my medical decisions over to my daughter and Doctors here are not allowed to assist in such matters because I have no recollection of it at all. I don't believe that most have the degree of pain that I did though because one of my secondary tumors was pressuring one of the few cerebral nerves that we have. (They tie directly to the brain) I would never do it again, but I cannot deny that cisplain did shrink the tumor enough to make it manageable even though chemo alone is ineffective as a cure for my brand of H&N.
  • longtermsurvivor
    longtermsurvivor Member Posts: 1,842 Member
    #5
    Hey sumarah
    it caught my attention that you are receiving some kind of adjuvant chemotherapy. Oftentimes chemo is used for induction prior to, and during radiation for SCC. But what drug(s) and what schedules are they using to do adjuvant chemotherapy on you? Adjuvants are used in a number of experimental protocals, but could you teach me what they are using post radiation in your case? thanks.
  • Kyle Gilmore
    Kyle Gilmore Member Posts: 55
    #6
    Same Boat
    Hello

    Looks like you and i are in the exact same boat...only thing was that it was not clear to me that I was going to have more chemo after my initial rad and chemo treatment...Bummed me out cause i thought i was done.

    I too Have NPC and it seems we have the similar treatment plan. I was told that the next part of the treatment plan should be easier to go thru then the mixed rads and chemo i have just completed.

    Good luck and take comfort in the fact that you almost done.
  • sumarah8
    sumarah8 Member Posts: 32
    #7
    Kyle Gilmore said:

    Same Boat
    Hello

    Looks like you and i are in the exact same boat...only thing was that it was not clear to me that I was going to have more chemo after my initial rad and chemo treatment...Bummed me out cause i thought i was done.

    I too Have NPC and it seems we have the similar treatment plan. I was told that the next part of the treatment plan should be easier to go thru then the mixed rads and chemo i have just completed.

    Good luck and take comfort in the fact that you almost done.

    thank you
    Im going to fight for this, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.

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