Head and neck cancer and radiotherapy treatment

Hi and welcome. 

I'm dani and I hang out in the Head and Neck Cancer Forum Click on the link and post your question there. 

I am chasing seven years after six weeks of RT for throat cancer. There are quite a few of us there with the same cancer as your husbands.

Salsalady6ef3dd said:

 I have been on some head and neck Facebook pages and there are many  personal stories from people  who have suffered greatly during and after RT Treatment.

Oh I do so wish sometimes these groups didn't exist, especially the ones from the USA. these are self selecting aggregates of people who have few friends and find solace in others, as well as their own misery. 

The treatment is tough but it's generally life saving. My oncologist told me the cancer would take a year out of my life but that he would cure me. It did and he did. I am well and enjoying my golden years.

If your husband doesn't have further treatment he will be passed to the community palliative care team when he becomes unwell and the cancer will kill him. There's no two ways about this.

Come over to our group and say hello. If anybody can get you both through this we can

Hi. I posted a long reply which disappeared.

So I will try again

I'm Dani and I am chasing seven years free of RT for throat cancer. There is no doubt that the treatment is a real challenge but it's doable and it saves lives. I was 68 when I finished and I am now well enjoying my golden years. My oncologist told me my cancer would take a year out of my life but that he would cure me. It did and he did.

Come over toThe Head and Neck Cancer Forum Click the link and post your question there.

Oh how I wish sometimes these  F B groups didn't exist. They are lonely people who seem to wallow in their own and other's misery. You never get the good picture of those of us who survive and thrive and most of us do

If your husband doesn't have further treatment he will be passed back to your general practice, to the palliative care team when he gets ill. 

Come and say hello. If anybody can get you both through we can certainly try

Thank you Dani.  I will try and get on the right forum.  I'm not greatly computer literate and am visually impaired.  I'm struggling at the moment as we are in our 70s and have no family.  

My husband who is usually such a fit and able man for his age, has been ill since his nasal operation and can't go forward with any treatment yet but the hospital keep pushing for a date when he will be better,  he is nowhere near a state of being able to take on the challenge.  We have no support at all and I don't know which way to turn to help him physically or mentally.  It's abit of a nightmare with him having these constant headaches and dizziness.  I've twice had to call an ambulance crew out but they weren't interested.  Was so upsetting,  my husband won't go to the surgery in person as he feels so unwell so everything has to be done over the phone which is not ideal and nothing they've given him  has worked for the pain and dizziness.when I spoke to a young cancer dr on the phone after the long bank holiday,she refused to organise a brain scan and told me to get the GP to give him a mental health assessment.  I'm just being shunted from pillar to post with no help for him to even consider starting him treatment

That is truly awful. Your husband should be getting at least a visit from the district nurse attached to your GP practice. I think you need to get him back to the hospital at least for a pain review. You would have been allocated a clinical nurse specialist there. Do you have their contact details? 

Hello again, when  he had the first ambulance call  out  they said contact the cancer unit at the  hosp. So the next day, on the `Friday I contacted the specialist nurse.  Answer machine.  No one rang back.  They don't pick up messages at the weekend and it was  the long bank hol weekend.  When a junior cancer dr rang on the Tues, she was the one who decided not to call him in for a MRI  and the one who referred me for a mental  health assessment at  our practice. No one is interested.  He has a phone apt with the oncologist  next week but she will  just  be interested in getting a start date from my husband.  .  Can't happen until someone bothers to find out what's causing the headaches and dizziness first.  The mass removed nasal cavity  was the size of a satsuma and was near the base of the brain so you can Imagine what's goi g thru my husbands mind.  He has just fallen apart and that's not him.  Thank you for your interest md suggestions