Starting treatment need advice

1. Hello there, so sorry to hear about your diagnosis, I can feel for you. As a fellow wife who's husband got his diagnosis of a form of an advanced T4 throat cancer near enough 12mths ago,our world got turned upside down. All sorts of emotions all in one,from being angry to upset and everything in between. My husband had to have 30rds of RT and 2rds of CT,cisplatin. I am not gonna lie, but the treatment and recovery was cruel. From about week 3, into the RT the dreaded side effects started to appear,sore throat, not able to speak(we invented our own sign language), to not able to swallow,he had a PEG fitted prior start of treatment ,he lost a lot of weight, caughing up sick stringy mucus and he became very tired and fatigued. His neck started to burn very badly due to the RT, but we got special dressing and gel given,which helped to heal the neck,also it took a few weeks. Unfortunately it left some scaring,he made low cut tank tops look good. Now 6mths post treatment he is well on the way to recovery,he is back to work, experimenting with food now, some food still irritates his throat and some flavours still don't taste 'normal'. Out and about he still takes a bottle of water,as he still gets dehydrated quickly. I guess it's a new kind of normal. Did we have some dark times on the way? There were plenty. Sometimes he got so frustrated and angry and his moods changed from one minute to the other. I found myself crying to sleep at times being him like this.  But we pulled through. He always said that me and the kids were his motivation to get through. Have you got support through this journey? It's OK to be scared, God knows I was. Our consultant was straight with us fom the beginning to what to expect, and he also told us it's curable. We held on to that. Now there is no evidence of the disease, the treatment seem to have done it's job. I am sure you will get loads of replies. There's always people who will share their story. So for now stay strong and positive. Stay in touch. Hugs for now fellow wife Mel x

I was treated for stage 3 tonsil cancer, 30 rounds of radiotherapy and 6 of chemotherapy, it was hard going no other way to describe it.

HPV16 plus cancers have excellent cure rates so although the treatment is difficult it is very effective, most of us suffered with the somewhat nasty side effects but some less than others, stick with this forum ask any question any time.

1. Mel what can I say reading your post I’ve just cried,I’ve got lots of support like your husband said,my husband and my 2 girls and my beautiful granddaughter are my motivation,your story already as gave me so much hope,if I’m honest I’m struggling with my emotions I’m breaking down all the time im angry and I actually feel so frightened but I can’t thank you enough for replying to me it means so much and i will keep in touch,I Just hope treatment starts soon I’ve got the oncologist Tuesday so hopefully will know the next steps,thank you so so much 

Hi Claire welcome from me I’m 7 years post chemo radiotherapy for tonsil cancer. The chemo that head and neck patients usually have is cisplatin. It’s toxic  but usually we don’t get hair loss ,hair may thin but end to keep most of it , radiotherapy can cause some hair loss at back but nothing too drastic. 
chemo is usually delivered either one day a week or in my trust they did 3 large doses week 1 week 3 week 6/7. I had 7 weeks of radiotherapy daily Monday to Friday.  
I can’t  lie treatment is hard i was  61 when diagnosed.m7 years later in living a good life. 
blog below might give you some idea. 
take someone with yiu when you see oncologist and a notebook and pen your brain will turn to mush. Don’t leave until you're ok in your own mind the next steps. 

Any questions please ask keep off dr Google now yiuve found us. 
hugs Hazel x

Thank you so much feeling a little bit more positive 

Thank you so so much 

Claire, we go told in the beginning once we had the diagnosis that emotions like anger and  frustration will be the first ones,then you learn to except the situation and learn how to live with it. I was were you are now,believe me,what you are feeling right now, it's normal. Not sure if this helps, but we told ourselves we may have cancer, but cancer won't have us. You are stronger then you think,trust in yourself,your family and your medical team,together you will get there. X

The best advice is follow the instructions from the consultant and nurses use the creams for radiotherapy do your mouth exercises and rest up it’s a hard slog but in seven weeks all the radiotherapy and chemotherapy will be over 

Hi Claire, if you haven't already, take a look at this thread.. it may answer a few questions, and help prepare you before your treatment starts.. 

(+) Helpful tips for those about to start treatment.. - Macmillan Online Community