Tonsil cancer

Hi Misscjayne and welcome to the Community. 

It's difficult to comment on what it might be so I would  ring to get some clarification. It sounds like the MRI and CT scans show no spread. The scans will show the extent of the cancer and how much tissue to remove. Without them the surgeon is going in blind. 

I had a panendoscopy under general anaesthetic to look for my cancer. The surgeon has a really good look around the whole upper aerodigestive tract...that's the mouth,throat and upper airways. Mine was inoperable so I had 6 weeks of radiotherapy.

The more biopsies bit probably means they will send the removed tonsil to pathology to examine.

Phone them up and ask them what they mean. When is your op scheduled for? Do you know yet?

Best wishes

Hi Misscjayne

Welcome from me.  The waiting is a killer.  We all know how you feel.  I've lost count of how many Panendoscopy I've had - the last was in late October.  The real reason they do them is so they have a really good look around without your reflex action kicking in.  Like you they biopsied my tonsil and took them later on.  Generally the procedure is easy to recover from.  I was day surgery for all mine.  If they do take a chunk of your tonsil, I make no bones about it that it will hurt like hell for around 10 days.  Don't be seduced in the first few days that all is OK with the pain.  It comes later.  Keep on top of the painkillers even if you don't think you will need them.  You may want to get some soft foods in before the operation.  Feel free to ask what worked for people.

As Dani said they need to plan what they are going to do to ensure success.  That is why they just don't cut bits out in hope.  Nothing worse than having that done for them only to have to come back for more.

You'll be fine.  All of these cancers have a high survival rate - as witnessed by the long termers on here . If this is HPV driven then that improves the odds in your favour even more.

Hi MisscJayne I too had mri and ct scans that showed no spread my first biopsy was a fine needle one i then went on to  have a general anaesthetic where a chunk of my tonsil was biopsied i had local lymph node spread hence i had chemotherapy and radiotherapy 7 weeks radiotherapy Now 4.5 years post treatment. My blog below might help explain my treatment plan.

Hazel x 

Thank you everyone for taking time to comment, it does help to know others know how your feeling.

The hospital have phoned and I’m going in Thursday for more biopsies  under a general anaesthetic x

Best of luck.
Not every tonsil cancer is surgically removed Some get radiotherapy only

You’ve got this 

Good luck for Thursday, it sounds to me as if they dont want to leave anything to chance hence the extra biopsies giving the consultant the best chance of getting on top of the cancer/ tumour. I had both surgery and radiotherapy but in a different area of the mouth, all is good now and my last operation was in 2010. Take care and all the best.

                                                           Chris x

Glad you found us.   I am relatively new to all of  this as well.   I am still awaiting test results to see what the treatment plan will be.   Good luck for Thursday.