Update T4aN2bM0 Hospital admission

Hi

I've written about my husband before. He was successfully treated for Stage 3 nasopharanx cancer centred in the piriforme sinus.

3 weeks ago he started having difficulty swallowing anything, including water. After a 5 hour stint in A&E, he had an emergency endoscopy which found he had a deformed epiglottis. We were told this was a late side effect of the radiotherapy treatment. 

He's spent the last 3 weeks in hospital being treated with high dose corticosteroids to reduce inflammation and swelling and being fed intravenously to take the pressure off his throat. They've tried twice to get a nasal feeding tube in but failed. 

He had a stomach rig op last Thursday. He's due to be discharged tomorrow. 

Future intervention and resolution remains unclear although surgery on the epiglottis involving stretching has been mooted. In the short term, he has a follow up with ENT next week and with radiotherapy on July 31st. 

It has honestly been a miserable time for us both. Twice he was making an excellent recovery only to suffer two equally huge setbacks. Physical issues was one thing but his mental state was extremely poor. He's now on regular Lorazepam rather than Sertraline and the former has helped immensely.  We cannot fault the doctors, nurses and auxiliaries  - they have all been exemplary. 

Long term, we cannot talk about long term as the future is very unclear but we can only move forward one day at a time. We've had a lot of tears, anger and sadness but we've also had a few laughs, a lot of support and pretty nurses to keep him occupied!

He has a very strong faith and a stubborn Yorkshire spirit. We just keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Thank you for reading and for your support.  It is so appreciated x