Meet the Maxillo Facial Surgery Team to find out diagnosis and potential treatment plan.
T2 N1 M0 left tonsil p16 positive, HPV positive squamous cell carcinoma
Easy for them to say. SCC for short. Assure that the treatment is to completely treat this and prevent re-occurrence which was very reassuring to know.
Treatment will be 3 weeks of prep, 7 weeks of radio therapy plus a bit of chemo then 12 weeks of recovery. It was mentioned that there is currently a trail I could take part in called TORPEdO where proton beam therapy could be used instead of normal Xray. No difference in the final outcome but the trail was to gauge potential less harmful physical side effects using protons. This would mean being treated in Manchester, feeling I wanted some normality by going home every day of treatment in Bristol I was dismissive of this.
Quite a lot to take in but Alison was with me to take notes and ask all the right questions I couldn’t even think of. Signed consent forms with ‘Lets Get This Done’ attitude.
