A little update after long time

VanessaSLO
VanessaSLO Member Posts: 283
in Head and Neck Cancer #1

Hey dear friends!!

I know, I know, I did not post here lately, but to tell the truth I really try to live life without thinking too much about cancer. Especially because my daughter will get another sister/brother - I am 4,5 months pregnant Innocent Smile.

My dad finished his treatment 14 months ago - he had 35 rads and 7 chemos for stage 4 base of tongue cancer (spread to lymph nodes on both sides of the neck). He also had neck dissection this September - they took 15 nodes out and they were all clear. You can see details if you click my nickname.

Well, we are all ok!! Dad still has problem with saliva (he still needs to drink a lot of water and in this cold weather he feels even more dryness in his mouth). He also has almost no taste but I hope it will come back someday. He doesn't complain about it because he can live with it.

It worries me a bit, because he gets hoarse voice very quickly after he starts talking. I think it was not like that previous months. He starts to talk and if we have a longer conversation, his voice gets a bit hoarse and he needs to drink some water to be able to talk more. He says that he can't even screem loudly if he wants. Is it normal 14 months after?? He had better voice before. It is worse now with this cold weather and heating season.

Otherwise he is ok. He is still at home on sick-leave. I don't know when the board will stop it and he will have to go back to work. In Slovenia you're usually one year on sick leave if you have some rought desease or harder body injury.

But I do have fear that this desease will come back someday. It scares me especially because many times people are ok for a year or two and then they find metastasis somewhere else in the body.

So this is a little update about us. I'm glad to see some old faces here and see that you're all ok. I hope it stays that way. And for all the newbies - it is the best place you can find! It helped me and my family to survive!

God bless you all!!

 

Comments

  • CivilMatt
    CivilMatt Member Posts: 4,724 Member
    #2
    nice

    Vanessa,

    I am glad your Dad is doing well and getting use to his new-normal.  Also, wonderful news that you are pregnant.

    I am just a little ahead of your Dad at 20 months post and I still have trouble with my voice.  If I have to talk very long my ability to talk just runs out of gas.  I am not as hoarse as I once was, but I do have trouble regulating the volume.  Sometimes when I try to increase the volume it busts out like I am yelling.  It doesn’t happen too often and my wife is adjusting to the newly radiated Matt.

    I also have dry mouth and “hit-and-miss” taste, but most everything is continuing to improve, I think I must have picked the 5-year recovery plan.

    Your Dad sounds great, with an especially good attitude.

    Matt

  • longtermsurvivor
    longtermsurvivor Member Posts: 1,842 Member
    #3
    Hi Vanessa

    Thanks for posting about your dad.  What he experiences is pretty normal.  I don't yell at football games anymore either.  The low relative humidity is a vey noticable thing for me.  So winters, or travel to a desert climate significantly effects my sleep, my speech and my general mouth comfort.  Low saliva is like that.  Does he sleep with a humidifier in the room.  That certainly helps me, but being out and around in this weather is hard on my voice/throat.  He may still get significant improvemet.  My saliva and taste improved for four years after my first rads, which were for BOT cancer as well.

     

    best

     

    Pat

  • phrannie51
    phrannie51 Member Posts: 4,716
    #4
    Hi Vanessa!!

    The one thing I love above NED's is updates when we haven't heard from someone in a while.  Sounds to me like your dad is doing pretty darn good, and I'm glad to hear he's happy where he's at.....regardless of his taste buds and saliva.  I've only got about half my taste, and maybe that much saliva....talking dries me out faster than anything....so I'd say he's normal as can be.

    We all worry a little about "down the road", so that's normal too, as long as we don't obsess about it....it's the nature of the beast....when you find yourself getting into the future, just drag you mind back and tell yourself...."well, nothing is happening today, so all is fine".....

    Congrats on the new babe.....how very exciting!!!

    p

  • debbiejeanne
    debbiejeanne Member Posts: 3,102 Member
    #5
    so glad ur dad is doing

    so glad ur dad is doing well.  congrats on the baby!!  wishing u and ur family a very Happy Thanksgiving and a very merry Christmas.

    God bless you,

    dj

  • hwt
    hwt Member Posts: 2,328 Member
    #6
    debbiejeanne said:

    so glad ur dad is doing

    so glad ur dad is doing well.  congrats on the baby!!  wishing u and ur family a very Happy Thanksgiving and a very merry Christmas.

    God bless you,

    dj

    Hi!

    Glad for the update and so excited to hear of the baby on the way! Congratulations!!!! We are ready to celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow and then I will be going to the Bahamas with my husband, sister & her husband and my brother & his wife for a vacation. My appt. for follow-up at Mayo Clinic is 12/18. Don't fret about a recurrance. If it happens, your family will deal with it. If it doesn't happen, you have wasted precious time worrying for nothing. Enjoy life as it is today! 

    Hugs,

    Candi

  • VanessaSLO
    VanessaSLO Member Posts: 283
    #7
    Thank you all

    for kind words. I read them to my Mom and Dad and they were very happy to see posts from people who helped us the most last year when we needed you.

    Oh, yes, it's Thanksgiving accross the pond - we don't have that here. We do have some sort of thanksgiving day one week after All saints day in November. But it is not that much important as it is Christmass or Easter. So, happy Thanksgiving to you all Smile.

    And yes, I have to make my dad to carry that bottle of water with him. And I told him it is obviously normal that he has problems with his voice and dryness in his mouth.

  • Duggie88
    Duggie88 Member Posts: 760 Member
    #8
    Vanessa

    Great news!!!! Glad Dad is doing well and congrats on the new addition.

    Life is good

          Jeff

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