Update from a Para-nasal Cancer patient -post rhinectomy and R/T

It's been a while since I posted; no excuses really, just been really busy with loads of hospital visits (6 weeks radiotherapy and recovery, follow ups, maxillofacial prosthetics consultations, oncology reviews, scans etc). I had my final post treatment scans in mid October (a CT and an MRI), and was told on 31 October that there was no longer any sign of cancer!! Thank you very much and well done to all the wonderful people at the Royal Surrey Cancer Centre in Guildford who have been looking after me since late March. What a great team they are!

Although I was warned about the likely side-effects of the radiotherapy, I had hardly any discomfort at all. I was told that my R/T was pretty closely targeted around my nasal cavity, so perhaps that's why. The only minor discomfort was a slightly sore roof of the mouth, so they just gave me some Diflam and that was that sorted. I also tired easily during the last 2 weeks of treatment and for 2-3 weeks afterwards, but that's just the body spending all its energy healing after the bombardment. I expect that the side effects, especially the eating and drinking challenges can be tougher if your treatment area is closer to the mouth and throat than mine was. I'm now fully healed following the R/T and have been pronounced fit for the next steps.

So what are the next steps? I'm now waiting for the orthodontic surgeon to fit me in to his operating schedule to implant screws in my face for the mounts which will support my final magnetic prosthesis, although I've now been advised that I'll have to wait 4 months after that before I can use that new prosthesis, since the bones in the face will have to heal for that length of time before the implants can load bear with the magnets. This is all down to the radiotherapy I had which apparently weakens the bone's structure. I've been fitted with a fantastic, very realistic, made to measure silicon prosthesis which has been cleverly colour matched to my skin tones. This has to be fixed on with adhesive each day. The gentler water-based adhesive didn't work for my skin for some reason, so I am having to use a solvent based one, which is much tackier and a bit more difficult to manage. Still, everyone says that it looks like my nose is back as it was, more or less, so I'm happy to put up with that the stickiness for a while yet! I've still got some treatment to come on one of my eyes (surgery came pretty close to my left eye, so it's very teary at the moment and the tears run down inside the prosthesis which is a nuisance - how can you have a runny nose without a nose???). 

When I was diagnosed at the end of March, I was totally unsure about which surgical route to take (rhinectomy or max fac reconstruction), and I'm so pleased that I chose the former. Admittedly, I'm 70 years old, so I'm not as concerned about a prosthesis as I might be if I were half my age, but I'm 100% convinced that I made the correct choice. Support from friends and family has been unbelievable, and has contributed greatly to my positivity, without which the journey would have been much more difficult. Onwards and upwards people!