Ding Ding - Ringing the Bell - NED

4 Nov - PET scan six months post treatment. My first scan. Prior to this my radiation oncologist and ENT limited the follow-ups to scoping. The tumor had responded well to treatment (32 hyperfractionated doses plus 3 Cisplatin). My original diagnosis was Stage 4A T2N1-2aM0 Moderately invasive squamous cell carinoma of the (L) base of tounge, glossopharyngeal sulcus and (L) tonsilla pillar. I was hospitalised three times during treatment, first time was for fever and body rash about 10 days after my first chemo. I was dosed up with a whole lot of anti-biotics which caused my second hospitalisation the day of my second round of chemo. I go home from the hospital having had two radiation sessions and 7 hours of chemo and two hours later my temperature spiked at 102.8 and I was rushed to the emergency room. I was found to be in severe sepsis in danger of going into septic shock. Spent 3 days in ICU. They found that I had a raging CDiff infection. CDiff being a hospital bug that likely got a foothold in my body because of the general antibiotics I had previously had. Apparently CDiff can be adequately handled by a healthy body but some antibiotics actually inhibit the body's ability with that particular bug. This caused a two day halt in my radiation treatment. The third hospitalisation was for aspirated pnuemonia. The combination of tumor and the radiation caused the closing flap on my windpipe to not seal correctly and I was getting gunk in my lungs which settled and made me ill. I survived that and managed to not miss any more radiation. My last radiation was May 6th. My recovery has been like most I have read on here - mucus, magic mouth wash, dry mouth, absent taste buds, neck stiffness, fatigue and the battle to put weight back on. Lost 30 pound but am now back to near my start weight. Feeding tube was removed about a month and a half ago. I am surviving on Boost nutrition drinks. All my teeth were removed prior to me commencing radiation. I am now awating insurance approval to commence HBOT ahead of getting oral surgery to prepare my mouth for either dentures or implants. The reason I can do this is that I received results and the clearance from my radiation oncologist for the HBOT. TWO BIG THUMBS UP!!!! NED.