Waiting to start RT and chemo

Hi Delaney. Welcome. 
Don’t panic. Don’t get ahead of yourself. Side effects creep up on you and the pain is easily mitigated to a tolerable level. Don’t  be brave. Tell your radiographers how you feel every day. They are your conduit to the rest of your team. 
Stay with us. There’s lots of help here. 
The treatment is pants but doable. I’m six years clear of six weeks RT and doing brilliantly

Take things day be day, put away the “what ifs” and be kind to yourself. Take help where you can. You’ll get through. 

Hi Delaney, if you haven't done so already, I suggest you give this a read.. hopefully it will be of some benefit..

(+) Helpful tips for those about to start treatment.. - Macmillan Online Community

Dani thank you so much for replying.  It’s this mental wait that’s making me anxious.   I will keep rereading your msg to help me be more positive.  Many thanks 

Thank you Beau so much I will look now xx

Hi Delaney - I’m Nige, I completed my radiotherapy on the 10th of January - about 4 months ago.

From my experience, firstly I embraced the mask , mine is Syd, I used it as my source of comfort during the sessions, to the point of falling asleep on a number of occasions.

I found the main discomfort was the dry mouth and the loss of taste, that’s a bugger not being able to enjoy food. Four months on and I have got some taste back although minimal - the dryness persists so seek what help you can from the docs with that.

one of the things I didn’t expect was/is the amount of changes that have around the mouth/throat and neck - it caused me panic but reaching out to others helped to understand that it’s quite normal and to talk about it and seek expert help instead of fearing the worst all the time.

ask anything at any time, I’m quite happy to share my experiences and if I can help you.

good luck - Nige

Dear Nige thank you so much.  You probably will be hearing from me a bit so I hope I’m not a pain.  I like the idea of naming the mask! How are you feeling now? Take care 

I had a couple of wisdom teeth out and a PEG tube fitted, no real problems, just keep the PEG area sterile to pre-empt any infection, keep on top of any pain with meds, especially at weekends, listen to oncology teams, they do it daily and know of most issues that will crop up. The treatment is difficult but does not last forever and has an excellent cure rate.

Good luck with the treatment, keep posting.

That’s ok - fine to contact me - I have a meeting with the MDT on Wednesday, after my 3month scan I had a review/examination with one of the docs and they sent me for a petct scan as somethings unclear, so I’ll know more after that.

it’s been an eventful few months with lumps and bumps appearing , eating became difficult but I think most experience that - I have good days and bad days, and because it’s a 3 month wait for the first scan after treatment , the mind plays some tricks and fearing the worst.

but as some of the folk on here reached out to me, it’s human nature to fear the worst and because of the waiting period , we tend to over think things.

one thing that is important, definitely talk with the radiologists, lovely folk and important as they will help and feed things back to the relevant teams.

also the dietitians - excellent and helpful. 
One definite word of advice, don’t suffer/panic in silence , ask if you want to know what the changes are and the effects.

what hospital are you at? I ‘m linked with Brighton.

Nige 

Thanks Micky55, I hope you’re doing well.  Every little bit of advice I am taking on board.  Many thanks 

Hi Delaney...age 71, 2 years post treatment for head and neck cancer, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, things took about a year to normalise (new normal), still having 6 monthly check-ups, but no complaints.

All advice is great...to know what you are facing gives you strength.