Getting my head around this

Hi Gaz. Welcome to our community and sorry you find yourself here.

There is a Larynx cancer group HERE but it's not very active.

Our other Community Champs chris2012 and MikeO both have experience of this and will likely pop in with some words of wisdom. 

You can also contact THE SWALLOWS HEAD AND NECK CANCER CHARITY who are very active in support

Can I add....please stay off Google. There is a lot of alarmist and inaccurate information there. The best places to seek help are your medical team and fellow sufferers in this community.

Hang on in there. Laryngeal cancer can be cured with radiotherapy these days and surgery is not inevitable

Best of luck and keep in touch

Hi Dani,

Thank you for the useful information and your kind words.

Gary

Hello Gaz, like Dani said sorry you find yourself here but it's good that you did so quickly. You are probably at the toughest point on any journey you may have (assuming the worst and it is cancer of some sort) at the moment, the waiting and not knowing, once you have details and a treatment path laid out it becomes much easier for most. I dealt with it by just putting total trust in my team, they told me they'd cure me and they did, unfortunately in my case it came back but that's rare and not their fault....plus they cured me again anyway!

As Dani said the main curative for cancers in this area is usually radiotherapy, possibly with a bit of chemo added but not always. It's not an easy road by any means, though some find it easier than others, but it's very effective and outcomes are very good and getting better all the time. It's possible, particularly if the cancer has metastacised (spread) to lymph nodes in your neck, that you' might need some surgery called a neck dissection. This sounds pretty serious when it's described to you and needs a short time in hospital (five days in my case) but my team told me it was "the easy part" ahead of my radio/chemo and they were right.

Having said all this I really hope their suspicions are wrong and you have something benign!

There's a lot more detail on what happened to me and how I coped in my blog (linked below); I've not yet updated it with my recurrance last year but that won't be relevant to you anyway. Keep us posted, between us we've experienced pretty much everything there is to experience so you'll always find answers/support, and there's no such thing as a silly question. Best wishes.

Mike.

I have had this experience! You can read my story and my regular posts. My voicebox had to be taken out, let us hope yours survives. On my previous post I linked a book written by a doctor who also had it taken out, this may be of interest to you. May I ask apart from your sore throat is your eating OK. If that is the case then I think they wont take it out. My voice was OK but my eating wasnt. That means my cancer had enlarged it to press against the food pipe. Since yours hasnt I would think you should be OK and it may not even be cancer! It sounds like the swelling is not the vocal cord itself. I can only say you sound OK!

Hi Mike, thank you for sharing your experiences. I will read your blog. 

Gary

Hi seeker1,

Thank you for your post. In answer to your question; my eating is fine and except for a slightly sore throat for the past three months, I feel physically well. Having said that.. even the usual slightest ache or pain has me thinking is that it spreading! Over active mind I suspect.

Gary

Gary 

It took me a year before I stopped being nervous about it returning...it's only natural. I was 55 when diagnosed and was off work a full year..I'm now back to full fitness but decided working 60 hours a week was no longer good for . I left my well paid management job and took on a part time job which has given me so much more time to enjoy myself. I play golf every Thursday now and on a Friday I go down the coast with my wife and spend quality time...I've found it's not money you will run out of but time.

Good luck  and good health

Chas

Hi Chad, thanks for your positive contribution 

So I've now got my appointments for anaesthetic assessment and CT scan this week. I'm pleased things are in place but dreading getting the results.

Hi Gaz Dont ponder on it as whatever needs doing will be dealt with . Think positive that it is being dealt with and that they actually found it in time All the Best Min Max .