Dementia and Neck Cancer

Hi and welcome to our little community

How ill is your husband with his dementia? I ask because radiotherapy is challenging and he will need a lot of care  

Where is his cancer and how much radiotherapy is he having? 

Have you discussed all this with his team? 
I’ve been here in the community since August 2018 and I can’t recall anybody else with a similar problem but I’ll do a search for you 

Best wishes 

Hi I’m back again. There isn’t anything recent but this thread might help. There are some very frank discussions 

community.macmillan.org.uk/.../613546

Please let us know how you get on. It must be so hard coping with such a situation. There are lots of folk here to help. 

Hi Beesuit

thank you for your reply.

My husband is still quite young and has a rare dementia but it is affecting his behaviour which can be challenging on its own without the cancer, so I am not sure how it’s going to affect him?
he is having 6 sessions of radiotherapy over 3 weeks.
His cancer is in his neck. I was told it’s secondary, the PET scan didn’t show the primary but they think it’s in his tonsil. 
The team are doing everything they can to get me as much help as possible which I am definitely going to need but need to know how challenging the radiotherapy is going to be for him. 

Hi CaringWife

with just six sessions I wouldn’t expect him to have too much discomfort but please do clarify this with his oncologist. 
Perhaps a sore throat and some difficulty eating would be expected but he will get pain relief. 
Is this palliative radiotherapy? 
The usual radiotherapy is 30/35 sessions over 6/7 weeks and there are significant side effects. 

To receive the therapy you have to be kept immobile on the treatment table clipped down in a plastic mask. I would expect his radiologists will have to make sure he can understand and cooperate  

I hope he can be made comfortable through all this. 

Hi CaringWife

with just six sessions I wouldn’t expect him to have too much discomfort but please do clarify this with his oncologist. 
Perhaps a sore throat and some difficulty eating would be expected but he will get pain relief. 
Is this palliative radiotherapy? 
The usual radiotherapy is 30/35 sessions over 6/7 weeks and there are significant side effects. 

To receive the therapy you have to be kept immobile on the treatment table clipped down in a plastic mask. I would expect his radiologists will have to make sure he can understand and cooperate  

I hope he can be made comfortable through all this. 

Hi sorry you’ve found yourself in here  dementia is hard enough never mind with a cancer diagnosis. As Dani says I’ve also been on here since 2018  and can’t recall anyone. Glad the team is doing all they can to help radiotherapy is challenging at the best of times it depends on where they are target I had 35 radiotherapy sessions and 2 chemo. 
The hardest thing can be loss of taste thick mucus and ulcers. 
I does depend on the targeting.
Hazel x

Hi Beesuit

The aim of the radiotherapy is to try to shrink the tumour, so yes I believe it is palliative radiotherapy.
he had his mask fitted last week which I didn’t think he would cope with but he did. 

I didn’t realise the usual radiotherapy was so many sessions, so hopefully my husband won’t have too many side affects. 
Thank you for your replies 

Hi CaringWife

I'm so sorry you find yourself here and in such circumstances.

It's great news that your husband was able to cope with the mask fitting as that had the potential to be the most difficult part for him.

As Dani says, hopefully the side effects of limited treatment won't be too bad.

I wish you and your husband all the best.

Linda x

Hi CaringWife

You mention your husband had his mask fitted last week. I’m sure if he managed to get through the fitting he will be fine receiving the radiotherapy. Each of my 30 sessions lasted just about 10 minutes. What I found helpful was having music played during my sessions and for it to be turned up nice and loud. One particular session I even had Tom Jones belting out “Sex Bomb” to me whilst I lay there with my mask on LOL. There was also  the option in some of the other radiotherapy suites to take your own music in and they’d play it for you, although I never did this, but on the odd occasion when I didn’t have music played I reverted to singing in my head one of my favourite songs Elbow’s “ One Day like this” over and over whilst the machine did its work.  Music definitely helped keep me calm but the staff were excellent and if there was any need for me to get them to stop I was told to just raise my hand. 

Sending you my best wishes

Carol x

Hi Hazel

thank you for your reply. It really is a double whammy for my poor husband. I am hoping the side effects will not be so bad. 
I have not heard of anyone so young getting both illnesses. 
I will have a look at your blog.

Best Wishes

Maxine