Tonsillectomy and Tongue Base Mucosectomy

Hi Cath you’ll need to be on top of pain medication I didn’t have surgery but from others it’s around 10-12 days   I had chemo and radiotherapy. 
blog  below  might help. 
Remember h p v positive tumours have excellent responses to treatment.

Hazel

Hi Cath again

I have had exactly the same diagnosis and operation. They found my primary under my left tonsil, I had a second operation as it was a little deeper than they thought. As Hazel said the main thing is to keep on top of your pain meds, I cut back after a couple of weeks and quickly realised that Hazel and everyone else were right, so keep up with them. Eating was difficult to start with I had ensured mixed with gold cap milk to make it taste better. Also soft foods until I could manage more solid food. My ear was numb and neck stiff for a little while but it did wear off. I did not need radiotherapy or chemotherapy so cannot comment on further treatment’s, you will get excellent advice on here, this forum was a great support for me 

Hi Cath

Debbie and Hazel have it so I'll just add a welcome from me.

It's quite rare that they don't find the primary so with a bit of luck it will be in the tonsils they take out. Histopathology often finds tumours too small for the scans to pick up. Lymph node enlargement is the usual presentation after all. 

Fingers crossed that like Debbie you don't need any further treatment but if you do stay with us and we will help you through 

SCC driven by HPV is curable so hold onto that

Hi Cath, I received the very same news in May this year. The primary was found after the tonsillectomy etc. The pain wasn’t as bad as I expected but just like the others have said , take pain killers religiously even if you think you may not need them. I was also told that if they didn’t find the primary it was ok anyway but that would narrow the treatment options to just chemo and radio only. My primary was near an artery so no other options could be considered apart from what they called the gold star radiotherapy and chemo. Others have mentioned the difficult treatment. And just like the others , this dreadful time passes. 3 months on I’ve been given the all clear as like Hazel reminds us, our type of cancer responds wonderfully to treatment. Keep that in mind as you face each hurdle. Take a day at a time, ask lots of questions on here as we’ve all been where you are now. 
Big hugs Debbie x

Hi thanks for all your really helpful and supportive comments. I know there’s a chance they won’t find the primary - but am hoping they do! So feeling positive and will make sure I keep up with the pain relief.