What is Head and Neck cancers
Head and neck cancers are malignant growths originating in the lip and oral cavity (mouth), nasal cavity, pharynx, larynx, thyroid, paranasal sinuses, salivary glands and cervical ...
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I have squamous cell carcinoma on my togue. The spot was about 3cm long on the left side of my tongue. I have had both a CT scan of my neck and chest and a Pet scan of 80% of my body. Both scans were negative for mets. I have seen a surgical EMT Dr. that specializes in this kind of thing. I was told that I was type 2 and I had 2 options or a combintaion of options. 1st option surgery...remove more of my tongue and do a radial neck disection and remove some of these lymph nodes where this kind of cancer usually goes to. option to radiation to my tongue and chemo. I was also told I could do a combination of things but these are the most popular options and the surgery at this stage is the preferred option. If the scans were positive I would think radiation and chemo would be the option. Anyway I was set to go with surgery on this coming Monday...then to find out Friday that my insurance is giving me problems. Turns out even though my Doctor and surgery are covered...my stay at the hospital is not....but there I think there is no other kind of facility or Doctor in my area that is capable of doing this kind of surgery....I was told it could take anywhere for a few more days or up to a month for the inurance to give some kind of answer. And now I am having second thoughts about the whole surgery...if I could just get it over with and have more answers from the biopsies done on the nodes in my neck and my tongue. This is very frustrating. I need to get this taken care of as quickly as possible but it seems as if my insurance provider is doing a Rainmaker movie on me. I am kidding...I know I am no where near the condition of that boy in the movie...but one thing is certain...money was paid for health insurance...I am covered...give me an answer or provide me with some kind of solution. Anyway has anyone been in the same situation as me...if so please give me more information about the route you took and how you are doing today...thank you.
Posted on 05/02/09, 11:05 am |
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Hi,
I had tonsillar cancer that had spread to a single lymph node in my neck, i underwent a tonsillectomy and radical neck dissection to remove the cancer followed by 7 weeks of radiotherapy supplemented with two weeks concurrent chemotherapy. that was 7 years ago and apart from a manageable dry mouth (due to the radiotherapy) and an occasional stiff shoulder (due to the RND) i am as fit as a butchers dog ,well one that's winding down a bit anyway ;-). When i had the RND i was in hospital for around a week and required no aftercare other than a follow up appointment to remove stitches. obviously i had further consultations and treatment assosciated with the radio and chemo therapy and the surgeon who performed the RND was present at many of these as he formed part of the team treating me. If i were you i would take the surgical option if there is any chance of the cancer having spread - my cancer was discovered via the enlarged lymph node in my neck, the fine needle biopsy taken from the node failed to produce a positive for cancer although the pathology results after it was removed proved positive as did the results for the tonsil. I was listening to a surgeon being interviewed on the radio the other day and he was claiming that 90% of cancers are resolved by surgery alone and that chemo and radiotherapy are used as tools to assist and mop up and this makes sense i think. Different people react very differently to treatment and for me the chemotherapy is not something i would want to repeat but i know many people who had no problems with this, i think for me the fact that i was connected to a machine injecting me with chemicals finally bought home to me the fact that i was ill - up to this point i was really in denial despite having had two bouts of surgery two weeks of radiotherapy and numerous consultations i was still maintaining my stiff upper lip as us brits do and putting a brave face. when the first bout of chemo came along i got to see life on a chemo ward and this was not a place i wanted to be. Luckily my chemo was in 2 bouts each consisting of an overnight stay on the chemo ward followed by a week with an portable injection device stowed in a bumbag,. the surgery was a breeze with no complications and involved more surgery than normal as i had asked the surgeon to reposition my saliva glands in an attempt protect them from the worst of the upcoming radiotherapy Aside from looking like dr Frankinstien's creation (i was cut from ear to ear rather than the traditional J incision on one side) the surgery healed really quickly and i was back at work in no time. Radiotherapy was a chore but not anything to fear. It left me unable to eat for a while but i had the foresight to agree to a PEG feeding tube and used this when i struggled to eat. If there is any general advice i can offer you it would be - Above all else remain positive, cancer is not the finality it used to be - the are many like me who have had cancer and survived. Eat as much as you can now, it will do you no harm to have some reserves to call upon later when you will find it easer not to eat even though you know you must. Question everything, take an interest in your illness so you can work in partnership with your consultants. make sure they understand that YOU are part of their team and not just another patient in this way they will engage more and will ensure the best outcome for you. Try to carry on with your life as normal do not let the fact that you have cancer become your major concern - that's the Dr's job your job is to carry on as normal. REMEMBER cancer IS curable! Finally i wish you all the luck in the world and look forward to reading about your complete recovery. Kindest regards Derek 
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