Cancer at base of tongue

Hi Maj1

I had base of tongue cancer though escaped chemotherapy but just wanted to welcome you here. It's a real challenge all this and you both must be frightened. The thing is to trust your team and make sure you are informed all the way along...but get your info from them not Google

Most of us here have our chemotherapy along with our radiotherapy so we are seen daily anyway.

The main effects are nausea and tiredness. There is a multitude of anti sickness drugs out there and they tend to start off with the most common cheap ones. They don't always work so you must let his chemo team know. There will be one to suit.

With chemotherapy you get steroids around each infusion and they can stop you sleeping

I'm sure his chemotherapy team will make sure you know exactly what to look out for, especially the risk of lowering his immune system

What chemotherapy is he being given?

Best wishes

Hi Maj1 l had chemo cisplatin let us know which chemo. I had mine every 3 weeks along side radiotherapy.It is scary but once treatment starts you get into a flow .

Thank you so much, that's very helpful, it is quite overwhelming. He is getting docetaxel, cisplatin and fluoroutacil

That's good to hear, so encouraging when he is just at the start of treatment

Maj1 said:

He is getting docetaxel, cisplatin and fluoroutacil

Hi again. He is likely to lose his hair too. I have a friend who had a similar cocktail before radiotherapy for hypopharangeal cancer over two years ago. She is well, has married since and is living proof that the doctors can fix this. 

Hi Maj1, I am quite new to the forum, diagnosed with HPV SCC of base of tongue & R neck lymph nodes. My initial treatment plan was as your husband's, but due to the size of the tumor, and it's growth, between the MRI & the PET scan, I started with 3xcycles of Chemo, same cocktail as your husband. It has just finished & I move on now to ChemoRadiation in the next few weeks. I have a RIG feeding tube in, and I've had 3 doses of antibiotics (2x10 days, 1x7 days) for an infection at the site. I thought it was never going to heal but it has. Guess I just want to reassure you that even though the Chemo made the infection more virulent, it did respond to antibiotics. All the best x

Thank you so much, I have read it out to my husband and we are very reasured by your message. He was in hospital last week with an infection round the feeding tube and it healed. He's been home five days and it's getting sore again. It's so worrying, it has been a constant battle. I am hoping it is not going to be as bad as last time. He is coming to the end of Doxycycline antibiotics tomorrow so I will ask the Dr for another antibiotic. Hopefully we will get on top of it. He keeps the area clean it's so frustrating. 

Yes it is very frustrating, I'd think each time it was healed as the exudate would stop for a few days, then it would start again. Mine was swabbed and found to be sensitive to Flucloxacillin, but as I said, it took 3 courses. I didn't know I couldn't get Chemo if I had an infection/ was on antibiotics, so my 2nd cycle was delayed a week, that was hard as I had a very positive result in terms of tumor reduction and pain relief after the first. With the exudate, the little puncture site didn't heal and was sore all the time. But now it is healed, one less thing to have to deal with. These things test us, but I hold on to the ultimate goal, being cured, and I wish that for your husband too x

My husband has also said he feels as though that first round of chemo has made a difference, he starts his second round next Thursday so hoping it won't be delayed. They have given us more Doxycycline. It's v sore but no exudate at the moment.. Let me know how you get on with radiotherapy etc wishing you all the very best, it's a tough journey but taking it day by day is all you can do. x