Well what a couple of months it’s been . I was diagnosed last week with throat cancer with hpv . I’m guessing it all started two years ago (just before the first lockdown) when I went to my GP with an enlarged lymph node to the right side of my neck . Dr thought it was nothing to worry about as there was signs of a slight infection in my ear/throat, anyway he sorted a blood test for me and true enough the bloods came back clear with a slight sign of infection, so nothing to worry about.
Roll on to October 21 when I noticed another enlarged lymph node , so I contacted my GP again , had a telephone consultation a face to face when he booked me an ultrasound and my local walk in centre . This showed I think 3 on my right and 1 on the left which concerned my GP enough to refer me to ENT . I was seen by a specialist who did an examination and an Endoscopy up the nose into the throat which he said looked all fine ( he even showed me the replay ). Well he wanted to biopsy one to make sure so I had to pop down for another ultrasound scan with I think it was a core needle biopsy , anyway 2 pieces of the node were removed to be sent to the lab for screening.
Well the call came to come in for results last Monday , I was in front of the specialist on the Tuesday with the bad news . I knew it was going to be bad when she told my wife to ignore the social distancing and plonk her chair next to me . She then did a brilliant explanation of it and another endoscopy which again looked ok .
So this is where I am at the moment … I’m awaiting an appointment for a head and neck MRI along with a dental x ray . If that doesn’t show up anything i think it’s a PET scan to see if it’s anywhere else in the body (I’ve no other symptoms of anything btw) .
if that’s clear I think it’s then the biopsy from my voice box , tonsils out and a ‘tongue shave biopsy’ which sounds scary so here’s hoping the MRI flags it up for a localised biopsy !
im bloody terrified tbh ,it’s been an up and down week to say the least , a proper roller coaster of emotions leading to a couple of meltdowns . But I’m back to work today and I’ve been reading the threads on here which have filled me with hope so thank you all for that .
regards everyone
Gary
Hi Gary and welcome from me too. The most usual place for throat cancer to spread to your lymph nodes is from tonsils. All these scans you’re having is to find where the primary is. Sometimes they don’t find it. The body might have dealt with it already. I’ll tag Peter who is in this position PFJTHS
Your lymph nodes are doing their job in stopping the spread.
Fingers crossed the scans find it
Like others have said, the fact that you are HPV+ is a bonus as it responds really well to radiotherapy.
Good luck and let us know how you get on. There’s plentiy of good advice and experience here
Dani
Base of tongue cancer. T2N0M0 6 weeks Radiotherapy finished January 2019
