One month post treatment

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CarolynHarvey
CarolynHarvey Member Posts: 8
in Head and Neck Cancer #1

Hi, Me again. My 72 year old dad had his last radiation treatment on Sept 29th. He had 5 days a week for 7 weeks radiation, and was to have chemo once a week for those 7 weeks. They had to stop after the 5th chemo because of side effects on his blood. They did not resume that treatment, so he missed the last two chemos. He is completely weak, lost all of his muscle, but He is stubborn and strong willed, which is great. He has been feeling a bit better everyday, still exhausted, but has tried to eat a few things on top of his boost. Things seem to be going good. He sees the dr. on nov 17th for a cat scan etc to see if the treatment worked. Yesterday he told my sister he "can still feel there is something in his throat". Has anyone experienced this? or does that mean the cancer is probably still there. Could it be scar tissue? or something else, like a sensation or something? I was just starting to feel things were on the up and up for him, but now I am petrified again....Has anyone else felt like this a month after treatment?

 

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  • CivilMatt
    CivilMatt Member Posts: 4,722 Member
    #2
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    Out on a limb on your father's (predicted) health

    CH,

    The cancer is gone, your father is cured, and yes my base of tongue and throat still feel different.  Not a bad different, just changed.  If I think about it, the right side of my tongue feels a little numb.  Also, when I eat there seems to be a little shelf down there for food to hang out.

    He probably is normal (and I don’t even know him) and things are healing. IF, he has any concern about things, call the doctor.

    I am now at 5 years 7months post and at 1 month post there were lots of changes falling into place.

    What was your father’s chemo treatment?  I had Erbitux, which isn’t a traditional platinum based chemo. There is a world of difference between platinum based and Erbitux.

    Good Luck.

    Matt

  • CarolynHarvey
    CarolynHarvey Member Posts: 8
    #3
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    CivilMatt said:

    Out on a limb on your father's (predicted) health

    CH,

    The cancer is gone, your father is cured, and yes my base of tongue and throat still feel different.  Not a bad different, just changed.  If I think about it, the right side of my tongue feels a little numb.  Also, when I eat there seems to be a little shelf down there for food to hang out.

    He probably is normal (and I don’t even know him) and things are healing. IF, he has any concern about things, call the doctor.

    I am now at 5 years 7months post and at 1 month post there were lots of changes falling into place.

    What was your father’s chemo treatment?  I had Erbitux, which isn’t a traditional platinum based chemo. There is a world of difference between platinum based and Erbitux.

    Good Luck.

    Matt

    He had cisplatin? or

    He had cisplatin? or something that sounds like that....It sounded like he can still feel the cancer there as he did before the treatment? scar tissue maybe?

     

  • Linda C.
    Linda C. Member Posts: 107 Member
    edited October 2017 #4
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    I'm going on 10 weeks out

    I'm going on 10 weeks out from 35 radiation treatments and I recently started feeling something in my throat at the same place the tumor was.  It also burns when I swallow water or anything.  My recent CAT scan showed possible residual mass - so there may be some cancer left.  Oncologist wants to do PET scan in a couple of weeks ahead of schedule as he fears that there is something there.  It doesn't feel like a lump but it feels like a raw area that burns.  I'm hoping it is scar tissue.  If it is still cancer I will have to have surgery.

     

  • OKCnative
    OKCnative Member Posts: 326 Member
    edited October 2017 #5
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    I'm 7 weeks out. Throughout

    I'm 7 weeks out. Throughout the treatment and now post treatment I occassionally feel different sensations in my throat. They range from feeling like there is a cotton mass in my throat to weird tinglingn sensations that cause me to cough. Doctors all said this was normal and had a look just to make me feel better. 

    I also have food that gets caught no the way down - as mentioned above "when I eat there seems to be a little shelf down there for food to hang out"  - That's damage to the epiglottis. My speech therapist taught me some tricks to dislodge the food from there. Ground beef is the worst.

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