Awaiting full diagnosis

Hi Cat we were all scared. But I took the attitude it wasn’t going to get me. I’m a natural positive person  but as Dsni says the miserable ones get through  it as well. Yes keep that thought. 
hugs Hazel enjoy your food 

I opted for an entirely surgical route with keeping radio/chemo in reserve if margins were not good enough or if there was a return.  Radio/chemo are still held in reserve as whatever they did in surgery has seen me clear.

I did not have robotic surgery (although they have the robots where I was treated) due to the position of the tumour.  I also had neck dissection and like your partner the lymph node was "encapsulated" and no other nodes were affected.

At the moment it all sounds good for him. 

Try not to think about reoccurrence.  It may happen and your partner just needs to be aware of any changes.  The way I describe it to people is that I don't believe I am ever cured of cancer - it is just knocked into a corner - and I need to be aware of that, BUT I am never scared of that fact.  That way you live a great life and make sure that you raise any concerns quickly to gain reassurance from your clinical teams.

Surgical recovery will be tough, especially with the tonsils.  However after 10-12 days things will be so much better.

It is a great idea to have that weekend away.  Chill and enjoy.

PFJTHS said:

Try not to think about reoccurrence.  It may happen and your partner just needs to be aware of any changes.  The way I describe it to people is that I don't believe I am ever cured of cancer - it is just knocked into a corner - and I need to be aware of that, BUT I am never scared of that fact.  That way you live a great life and make sure that you raise any concerns quickly to gain reassurance from your clinical teams.

Thanks Peter. That’s it in a nutshell. The cancer is always with us. Yes there are recurrences further down the line but not many. This group by its nature is self selecting. You don’t get many people coming in here twenty years later to say they are well. They just get on with their lives. 

Thank you 

Driving to surgery in a minute. Covid rules changed again so it’s looking like I cannot go in and possibly also won’t be able to visit after, which is annoying 

I think I probably haven’t understood entirely, based on what you 2 are saying, but I thought if it came back after surgery and radio/chemo within the 5 years then that was pretty bad news and normally then just palliative treatment like immunotherapy unless they can do salvage surgery? 

I know I shouldn’t be thinking about that at all and I’m not day to day. Trying to focus on this op and recovery. I know they’ll know more in 2 weeks when they have pathology back post surgery 

Hi Cat. Please shake the reoccurrence out of your head. Let’s get hubby through op snd treatment plan first. You can’t spend your life thinking about what if s . No one knows what tomorrow May bring take one day at a time. We’re here to help. But honestly if we all thought about reoccurrence s none of us would be on here we would be basket cases. 
If you can’t visit it won’t be long before he’s home. What are they doing today. 
Hazel xx

Good luck for today. 
let us know how he gets on xx

The oropharongectomy (is that right? The removal of the tissue round the tonsil the tumour was in) plus neck dissection. 

the consultant said he discharged one guy after 24 hours last week! 

Thanks cat. A nifty bit of surgery. I know a lady who had the very same and she is in remission. I hope he’s home soon. Make sure he gets plenty of analgesia and that you have his clinical nurse’s contact number. Xx

Hi yes that’s about the usual turnaround time. I had tonsil and anterior wall biopsy in at 12 at home for 6 pm. As Dani sats make  sure you’ve plenty of painkillers and cancer nurse phone number. It’s the start remember not the end ! He will get through this. H p v driven tumours respond well to treatment remember the mantra. He’s young i could give him 20 years in age snd I did if. 
Hazel x

I was kept in for 24hrs after each surgery on my tonsils.  That is mainly to make sure there is no bleeding as they can deal with it better in hospital.  Both times I had none and was delighted to be discharged the day after surgery.  Hopefully he will be home today.