Dad diagnosed with tongue cancer

Hi Allie, welcome to our community. 

Have a browse through the posts here. There are many people going through the same radiotherapy that your father is going to have. The side effects are going to be the same. Are you actually caring for him or wanting to be as supportive as you can? I was 67 when my treatment started and I did need looking after by week four. My husband also drove me to hospital for the daily sessions, helped with feeding and medication

BAO said:

All of this is new and scary to me and would love to hear from people who are going through something similar or supporting someone through this type of cancer 

Have a look at Macmillan Support too

Hi Allie welcome from me. Your dad will need help are you  near enough to drive him to hospital or does hospital offer patient transport ? Ask if he’s having a peg fitted for feeding ? Again he may need help with that. 
its s scary time my treat was tonsil snd curative but  we can helps  with radiotherapy questions. There’s a few tongue cancer patients who I’m sure will pop on. 
hazel 

Each case will be different,take advice and care plan from onciologist. I was diagnosed stage 2 tongue cancer June 2022 and being 74 declined surgery. After further consultation opted for palliative care plan of radiotherapy with scans and biopsy checks. Now having IV infusions and while the treatment is no picnic am pleased to be still here  and gratfeul to the NHS staff at Leeds.

Hi Allie

I'm 5 years in ...had tonsil cancer, tongue cancer and lymph glands secondary cancer...it's a tough road , I was 55 but very doable in terms of treatment.. it's never easy on everyone else .

I had chemo and radiotherapy...and although side effects are tough... hopefully your dad can get through it.

Only tips I have are stay off Google...the people on here have been through it. Try and keep him positive...it makes such a difference. Always go with him to consultant meetings as I only heard what I wanted to hear.

Good luck and you've got this

1. Chas

Hi Allie and welcome from me. I had tongue and neck lymph node cancer, diagnosed Feb. this year. I had Chemo & Chemoradiation finishing in July past.

You can read my experience by pressing on the little armchair by my name. Everybody is different however there will be common themes and problem areas.  All the best to you and your Dad, Tina

Thank u for replying, I will be helping take care of him and will be driving him to his sessions every day, we just found out his cancer is stage 4a and he will need chemotherapy as well as radiotherapy, it’s a scary time for all of us but so far he seems to be coping well with the diagnosis 

Thank you so much for your reply, I have attended all his appointments because I thought the same as u, he will only hear what he wants to hear, couldn’t persuade him to do the surgery even though that’s his best option and we spoke to the surgical team a few times, radiotherapy is to start in the new year with weekly chemo as well, as I mentioned above the chances of it working are very slim but I have everything crossed as he is determined to beat it 

allie 

Oh my goodness you have no idea how much reading your experiences has helped me understand everything!! Thank u so much for that! The support on here is amazing and really helping me to know how to help my dad, thank you again 

allie x

Allie I'm sure he is getting the best support...I have my fingers crossed for you guys

Chas