9. Third week of treatment

2 minute read time.

The weekend went ok but on Sunday morning my throat was hurting a little more than it was last week when I swallow… is this the sign of things to come?

Monday 4th and Tuesday 5th August Radiotherapy session all went ok, the mask is still a little tight, but the staff helped each time so was bearable.

Wednesday 6th August. I was asked to get bloods taken ahead of my consultation meeting later this morning, which I did at 0815hrs. Then went on to the radiotherapy session and onto my consultation meeting at 0940hrs.

Mr Shah (oncologist) did the consultation, the blood results weren’t back by the time of our meeting but we discussed the various options available for my next Chemotherapy session on the 11th August. This was due to the muffled hearing, which hasn’t got any better but also hasn’t got any worse.

Theo options are

  • carry on with a full dose of Chemo and take the risk my hearing might get worse and stay that way.
  • Turn the chemo strength down to 75% and take a reduced risk with regards the hearing.
  • Not have my second and last chemotherapy session at all.

After a lot of thought and discussion I decided to go for the 75% strength session option.

This is all depend on my blood test result, as he needs to check that my Kidneys haven’t been damage so far. He will ring me later today.

13:30 hrs the Oncologist rings to confirm blood tests were all ok and we agreed to go for the 75% strength Chemo session on the 11th August.

 

Thursday 7th August. Radiotherapy session went ok, but the mask was tight, pressing on my throat which made me want to cough, which is difficult with the mask on, so was gasping by the time they took the mask off. Before leaving we were told to collect 3 boxes of the fortisip energy drinks waiting for me a reception. I think we need a bigger cupboard at home for all this stuff !

 

Friday 8th August. Radiotherapy session went ok, mask still a little tight, My face must be swollen a little !!

Had our weekly end of week review meeting with the radiologist; She is pleased I am still managing to eat normally, but issued me some soluble paracetamol tablets just in case.

Went onto have more blood tests, these are the ones 3 days before Chemotherapy session to check everything is ok. Received phone call later in the afternoon to confirm bloods all ok, also went through their Q & A session, so everything’s ok for the Chemo session on Monday… at 75% strength !

 

What Have I learnt?

Radiotherapy still doesn’t hurt while its been administered, but the neck area is going red, but in my case its not sore.. at the moment.

Getting used to flushing and twisting the PEG every day which is now a routine habit each morning.

Throat is sore while swallowing but not enough to stop me eating.

Anonymous
  • Hi, can you tell me what are all the side effects you’ve had from chemotherapy and radiotherapy? Was the sickness bad?

  • Hello, Within the overall treatment I have had 30 sessions of radiotherapy and 2 session of Chemo to treat my diagnosis for T1 N1 HPV SCC on the right hand side of my tongue base.

  • Overall the sides affects of the Chemo, in my case, was quite minimal, slightly tired on the day of treatments, with my mood a little down for a couple of days afterwards and a very small amount of hair loss, which i could only tell from a greater amount of hair in the mornings on the bathroom floor than usual.

    The side affects for me with regards the radiotherapy were / are by the end of the 30 sessions were very red neck, more on the right than left of my neck, but application of the "Enopen" cream I was given has helped to keep it moist, although a week after my final radiotherapy session my neck peeled like I had very bad sun burn, it was a little sore but not too much.

    the other side effects were mouth ulcers, which I still have one or two but now 4 weeks after my last session there are slowly going, my throat was sore after about three and half weeks of radiotherapy and again the week after my last session I ended up using my PEG tube into my stomach for the fortisip drinks and medication. I will write about this later in my blog.

    Judging by talking to others I have had a somewhat less painful experience as I am back eating small portions of feed and not using the PEG at all.

    Hope this helps, if you want to know anything else I can help with please get in touch.

  • Sorry also forgot, and no idea how I could forget, but the main side affect is the loss of taste, all food tasted the same, I had forgotten to put this in my weekly blogs, but the taste went at around week 5 and is still absent although every now and then I get a taste of something, (4 weeks after the last radiotherapy session) so hope its slowly returning, I was told this could take months !