Newly diagnosed.

Hi Rich

I am sorry to hear about your diagnosis but don’t beat yourself up as you did follow up with your symptoms and it sometimes takes a while for the cause to become apparent. This should not have any bearing on the outcome of your treatment as many people on this forum had similar issues over time and were treated very successfully.

It is certainly a bolt from the blue when after being quite healthy then you have a cancer diagnosis. That happened to me too and seems to be a common theme with most.

Put your trust in your medical team as they are very experienced and will know exactly what needs to be done. Mine were wonderful.

Once you have a proper treatment plan in place you will know what to expect but I know the waiting is excruciating.

Keep coming back to the forum with your questions as there is always someone here who will have experienced what you are going through and will be able to give you some advice.

The forum was such a help to me. I am know 18 months post my treatment and am feeling happy and healthy. The journey can be a bit rough and has its ups and downs but is worth it for both yourself and your family.

You can do this.

Best wishes

Lyn

Thank you so much. I am scared, anxious and so sad but your reply was so wonderful and I really do appreciate your response to my rambling introduction. I’m so glad you’re happy and healthy and It gives me a lot of hope to know that there are such positive outcomes.

Thank you again.

Rich.

Hi Richy

I certainly would recommend this forum and it has been very helpful to me. I remember a lot of anxiety in my first few weeks but it was helped when my medical team had assessed me enough to give me more information on my cancer and how they intended to treat it. You don't sound as if you have quite been given that information yet but hopefully that will follow soon and you will know the way forward. 

So do come back to the forum as soon as you get a bit more information as then you are likely to find some on the forum who have had a very similar diagnosis and treatment plan.

Mine was a base of tongue cancer diagnosis in February that had spread to my lymph nodes on one side of my neck (that was the lump that caused me to get checked up). For me surgery was done in April and Radiotherapy followed which finished on 7 July and now in late August I am recovering considerably and life is improving with it. So I am just under 7 months into my journey and whilst there is a way to go I am improving as each week goes by. When I hit problems on the way the forum often provided me with helpful advice.

Best wishes to you and once you have your biopsy results your medical team will soon be able to plan your way forward and this clarity helped me with some of my anxieties.

Richard

Hello Rich

The diagnosis stage is probably the most mentally challenging to cope with for most people. You have the shock, the waiting and the uncertainty until your expert clinical team have a plan which they wish to discuss with you and, once agreed, delivery on.  Everybody copes in different ways, but for many the support here provides a significant degree of relief.

There is no point in beating yourself up over what you see as your past mistakes.  They don't sound like mistakes to me.  You need to look to the future and past the end of the treatment to the good life that you will lead once this is all over.

There is no denying that whatever treatment option you take to deal with a H&N cancer it is going to be tough.  You will need your family and friends fully on board to support you.  There is also lots of real people on here who regularly post that will show you how you can have a good quality of life post treatment and see your son through college and onwards.

Focus on the future and once you have a diagnosis and plan let us help you understand and put coping strategies in place.  In the meantime continue to use this thread if it helps you manage this particularly challenging stage of your journey,

All the best for the biopsy.

Hi Rich

I would simply like to welcome you too the community and add one piece of advice to everybody else's excellent posts. Please stay off Google. It is full of inaccuracy and will frighten you even more than you are already. The places for advice are your medical team and from fellow sufferers here who have collectively years of experience in coping with the things the doctors can't do for us. Hang on in there and come back to tell us how things are doing. Best of luck

Hi Rich!

You're definitely in the right place here as there are many people who can give you advice and reassurance. Most people would not automatically assume they had cancer (although I have to say I did) and even the doctors usually say it's an infection, swollen glands, etc etc before a biopsy reveals what it is. 

Waiting for answers is the worst. Once you know anything, you can put your energy into fighting it instead of worrying. I tried antidepressants whilst waiting for the biopsy result but they didn't help. I hope yours is working for you - you wouldn't be normal if you weren't extremely anxious. 

I'm not an expert, but only went through radiotherapy for tongue cancer in Jan/Feb 2021, so it's all still fresh in my mind. If you have any questions I can answer, I will be happy to do so. 

You're not alone,

Susan

Hi Susan. Just read your post to rich. I've just been diagnosed today with mouth cancer. I had what I thought was a canker sore but it didn't heal. So after biopsy I received results today. Absolute panic stations and anxiety. They didn't have my results from ct scan yet so I'm unsure what treatment will be . Thanks for any help

Julie 

Hi Julie this is Hazel aka Radioactiveraz welcome to the club none of us want to be in I am now 3 years post radiotherapy for tonsil cancer with several affected lymph nodes. You’re I the right place in here. You can start a new thread or continue in here. Anythjng you want to know just ask. The waiting the worst part once treatment starts everything falls into place. I gave a blog with links to others  details below. Remember our cancer is often curable and has excellent results. Do you know if you are h p v positive? That’s a question to ask ? 
Hazel 

Hi Julie.  Waiting for the planning work to be done can be really tough.  At least you know where you stand re the cancer.  Is your HPV positive??  Stay off Google.  Stay on here, and we will help you through this.  One you have a treatment plan everything will be so much better and you can ask questions to help you get through that phase.

Testament that most survive and many thrive after treatment are the people on here that support others many years after they have completed their own treatment.

Hi Julie!

I'm not the best expert on everything but can say I'm one of the most recent sufferers. You're probably a few weeks from treatment yet as your team have to work out the best way of treating you. Mine was 30 sessions of radiotherapy. Not the greatest, but it cleared my tumour and am gradually recovering. 

My advice is to get an A5 diary (page a day) and write down all your appointment times/department/etc in the diary bit and use the back for important telephone numbers, names of nurses + contact numbers, questions to ask doctors, lists of medicines, etc. 

I still use mine to record EVERYTHING - meals, meds, walks, everything. To me it's been invaluable - the one thing I'm in control of - and also useful when the doctor asks you, "when was the last time you.....?" and I check the diary!

For now - they'll probably tell you to eat and drink what you really like because during treatment you won't fancy most things. Try to keep busy. I know the waiting is awful. The wheels of motion at the hospital are turning slowly but surely and everything is done by the letter and in the right order. 

Ask away when you know more. There are plenty of people on here who can give you answers. I can give you moral support and practical tips like the diary, etc. 

All the best,

Susan