New Diagnosis

Hi Andrew

All the results need discussing by a panel of clinicians and support staff called a multidisciplinary team. MDT. This will be done when all your results are through. I would expect these to be done in three weeks or so. Add the date for the MDT which usually meets once a week to discuss all the patients in the department so we are talking around a month,  less if you’re lucky. 
After that treatment has to be planned and if you are having radiotherapy this has to be finely targeted. So allow another two weeks or so. 
If surgery is the option the I would allow the same plus time for healing if RT +/- chemotherapy follows

This is a rough guide. It depends on so many things. 
Rest assured there is a good standard pathway the oncologist/ surgeon follows. They know what they are doing and they are good at it. Our cancer has a very high cure rate 
Di not go looking for answers/ statistics on Google. It’s full of misinformation and rabbit holes. 
Stay with us. We have most of the answers. 

6 weeks for me...biopsies, scans, mask fitting, bloods and dental work took up most of the time.

Most of us found it very daunting, once a routine is set it becomes less daunting...but still very challenging.

Thank you, very informative and reassuring! 

Thank you.  It really helps that you guys have been through it and can give advice.  Makes a massive difference so thank you

It took just over 2 weeks to get my result which confirmed it was cancer and 5 weeks before i started treatment which was 30 sessions of Radiotherapy and 6 sessions of chemo .If you need Radiotherapy ask for a RIG to be fitted a feeding tube this will be a life saver as you go through your journey .The 5 weeks were taken up by planning the treatment ,dental work ,a mask fitting and meeting or talking to the people who were going to be involved in my treatment .Plus an overnight stay in hospital to have the RIG fitted .

Thank you.  My consultant is arranging our next meeting this coming week so I will be sure to ask about this 

Hi I was on 2 week pathway 14 May 2018 diagnosis confirmed 6 June biopsy 19 June hpv  tonsil cancer confirmed 23 June met oncologist after mdt 23 June pet ct scan ct scan mask made in next 2 weeks first treatment 14 July. Keep off Dr Google stick with us cure rate is very good 

Hazel x

Thank you  

Hi Andrew and a warm welcome from me.  Good luck with the scans today and the surgery tomorrow.  I have had countless panendoscopies and generally they have been day surgery with only minor discomfort afterwards.

Any delays in getting your treatment plan are normally due to the MDTs giving proper consideration to the options and then planning your treatment.  On 2 of my 3 diagnosis I chose to delay treatment by a few weeks for personal reasons and suffered no detriment.  On the other occasion Covid introduced the delay for me - again to no detriment.

These cancers have the benefit of a very high cure rate as a result of the somewhat brutal treatment we receive.  Stay with us and you will get a sounding board and sage advice when you need it.

Hello and welcome. I feel for you, this is such a scary time. I've come through it myself,  with similar diagnosis, and I'm fine now - see my profile for timings. Some famous men have come through it - Stanley Tucci, Michael Douglas, Mark Steel, Rhod Gilbert - you could check out their stories. I found this group so helpful, informative & supportive so stick with us. Sending you love, luck & solidarity

Catriona