Neck throat cancer support please x

A week is early days

Hazel is right though you will be busy soon. 
Side effects tend to kick in at three weeks and then escalate. My husband took over all the housework and dog walking as well as being my most marvellous prop. He didn’t complain though heaven knows what he was going through. There’s so little support for carers. I asked him once how he felt and he said you just have to get on with it. 
By the time my radio had finished I was on overnight feeding via pump and nasogastric tube and a pharmacy of drugs. 
it’s useful to get a spreadsheet of meds organised for you to administer taking no nonsense from the patient ;)

Good luck, you’ll be fine  

Thankyou Hazel xxxx

for ur lovely concise reply xxxx

Thankyou for ur reply xxx

i find myself on here quite often atm xxxx

Hiya Rachael 

Sounds like you both have had quite a week x x

We had Harry's meeting on Wednesday - at Castle hill , which is where everything will now happen.Diagnosed finally with a primary - base of tongue . He is to have 6 weeks of radiotherapy with chemotherapy every Monday- low dose. 

NO neck resection needed!! We are thankful about that. 

Back for dental check on Monday . Also chemo talk -RIG fitted next week or even when chemo/radio has started.

Staff were amazing talked and included both of us. 

Treatment might start early Feb but again we should have more answers after Monday.

Take good Care . This group is fantastic it really is amazing. 

Lisa x x

No worries Rachel A’s the saying goes been there done it got the t shirt ,read the book ,so to speak ! Come on here any time there’s always one of us about who can offer help or just a shoulder to moan on .

John my hubby used to say when people asked how he was ,his reply was it’s nit me who it’s happening to .But he was heart broken but held it together for me.

best wishes 

Hazel xx

We're a little ahead of you with same diagnosis - first week of RT and one session of chemo done. Keep in touch x

Hazel and Beesuit (in particular - not excluding anyone)!

Out of interest, after one week's treatment (5xRT + 1 CT), husband has very bad heartburn, wind and a bit of nausea. He was changed for 6 doses of cisplatin to 2-3 doses of carbaplatin (as he already has tinnitus), and I'm wondering if the hard hit is causing gastric problems. He's been Rx dexamethasone (steroid) and metoclopramide (anti-puke).  

Any thoughts?

Many thanks

Pip

Hazel will likely reply. I didn’t have any chemo. The morphine made me sick but that was later in the day. 

Take each day as it comes, avoid imagining what might or might not happen, try and relax into the process knowing it's only for the next 10 weeks. Easier said than done but withing weeks, there will be a lot for you to do. Also be aware of the changing dynamics of your relationship with Mark. It's challenging but you can do this. Are there friends/family you can lean on? This group is your virtual support :-)

Easy for me to say but keep in touch with the group (even though I'm a newbie too, I can see that it's invaluable).

x

Hi Pip,

I had 2 of 3 scheduled session sessions of chemotherapy cisplatin ,my dosage was explained like this think of 100% and Ihaving 3 sessions we are hit with 33/1\3 rd  each session  as opposed to 17% in 6 sessions so yes it’s a bigger dose over a longer period with a longer recovery time .I was lucky only had a slight nausea on day one and the anti sickness took care ,  the wind is hubby opening his bowels regularly I was given movicol  and told to take every day as it’s easy to get blocked ( don’t you just love the fact we can do toilet talk with people we’ve never met! Cancer has that effect ) ! lol.

Acid reflux is very common in our treatment to varying extremes , I didn’t start with it until treatment finished but know of  others who started in treatment and are still in message 3 years on.Until you can getbto see your team in Monday try gaviscon double action tablets I found these worked for me , off course like we Day we aren’t medical trained can only pass on our experiences..

With regard to sickness I have  a girl in touch with me who went through treatment same time as me and she unfortunately was sick every day some days up to 6 times a day no meds could help her ,but we are still in touch and 17 month down the line it’s all a distant memory she was on weekly chemo ,it just shows that their are no 2 case s the same we all have our own idiosyncratic things. In my case my uvulva melted aftervtrratment ( the dangly bit at back of throat just shows the radiation works after treatment as finished as well.it happened at least 8 weeks after treatment finished 

Hazel x