Hello im a newby

Hi

Hi sad to hear your partner's position...but you have came to the right place...I like many on here have been through similar treatment and have made it back to some sort of normality...first thing

...stay of Google..you will only get misinformed

...go with your partner to consultations as when I was going through the treatment I only heard what I wanted to hear.

...try and find something that can improve their fitness...I took up walking.

...and finally try to adopt a positive attitude...it's tough but that really helps when things are difficult.

Keep us informed and any questions let us know

Good luck.... Chas 

Thank you, i do go with him to all appointments as he already suffers with anxiety, needless to say its through the roof right now. 

Hi it's always difficult at the start...I waited 8 weeks to get diagnosed which was really difficult for both me and my wife.... once the treatment started in earnest then you just got into a routine...the people on here really supported me 

Good luck

Chas

Hi, Hope60. As Chicotime said you have come to the right place, where we will give you as much info and help as we can. It is very frightening when you are told the treatment you need, however once he gets under way with it, he will feel a bit better about it all. The side effects differ between people, some have more some have less than others, his team will give him what meds he needs as he goes along, so he must keep them informed, about the side effects he is having. Any questions you have just ask away on here, someone will always answer, if they can. All the best to you both.

Regards Ray.

Hope, try not to panic. Radiotherapy is the standard gold treatment and HPV positive SCC is particularly sensitive to it. The cure rate is over 95% so this is something to hold on to. I am 3 years clear of cancer at the back of my tongue. I had 30 rads. The treatment is tough and full of side effects but nobody gets all of them and whatever ones your partner gets are easily mitigated to make life comfortable if not exactly pain free. Not everything happens at once and if you take each day as it comes it really is doable and in no time you are through the other end.

I have links to a blog at the end of this post that might give you an overview of what to expect.

Mark also has a useful diary HERE

As for pain the  most important things are to not be brave, tell your radiographers how he is feeling every day and take the pain killers by the clock, better to be in front of the pain rather than chasing it.

On the whole most side effects disappear with time. The most significant long term effect is lack of saliva ( and having to be scrupulous to look after teeth) but even so much returns to manageable levels

Stick around and ask anything you want. No question is silly and there will always be somebody around to give you an answer.

Best wishes

Thank you all so much, i will be hanging on to your words in rhe hope i can help him & pass on advice.

Hi Hope  Has  others have said  it’s doable it’s not easy but I was 62  when I was diagnosed I had  35 radiotherapy and 2 x 10 hour chrmo. I’m now  65 and if I say  yesterday I cycled 44 km hope that gives you hope. Treatment i hard I I can’t lie. My blog below might help you. Any questions just ask lots of us on here have gone through the tunnel snd are happily living our life’s. I too was h p v 16 positive.

Please keep off goggle 

Hazel 

Hi Hope60,

Welcome and sorry to hear that your partner is going through what so many of us have been through or are currently going through.   I stopped at just having surgery - tonsils, tongue and neck dissections.  Of those the neck dissection takes the longest to recover from once the initial scars have healed.  My advice is give time the ability to heal.  It took around 18 months before I realised I had back most of the movement I lost from the dissection.  There are still strange side effects, but they are all liveable with.

Others will have first hand experience of the RT side effects, but I think I can speak for all of us that we do enjoy a good quality of life once we have healed.  It may take some time, but he will get there.

In the meantime we are all here for you and him as and when you need us.

He had the surgery 4 weeks ago, to be fair he has had no problems at all since week 3. Back to normal no pain, can eat normally & no restriction on movements, he never did. He must have been lucky.