Good Evening,
My partner had an excision in January which was found to be Adenosquamous and is having radiotherapy for above which is on his forehead, to be honest it has not gone well from the start. Having to travel 1 hour each way for a 10 minute appointment when the nearest Hospital is 10. minutes up the road and do Radiotherapy does not help. We have had wrong Drs appointments told after we had sat waiting in outpatients for 1/2 hour after the appointment time.
Not informed of the staging by the Dr we eventually saw who was not happy we were added to her clinic list. This was discovered when my partner got a copy of the letter to his GP from that Dr which says Stage 3 with PNI (Nerve involvement ) We would like to have more information of what to expect from the radiotherapy curable? or not this is the 3rd he has had removed from his face and neck but he doesn't know what they were BCC, SCC? He has just finished the 2nd week and another 3 days to go. However I would like some information if anyone can help, with the Radiotherapy are ?all the treatments the same length and strength? We expected to have nearly always the same staff but this hasn't happened and one man he has had twice my partner doesn't feel confident with and I'm not sure if this member of staff is giving the same length as others as today he was out within 1 minute from the red light switching on to finishing the same thing happened earlier this week. What we don't want is for the treatment not to be sufficient or to have extra sessions.
Apologies for the long post but it is worrying
Hi Navy Mum2
It sounds like you and your husband have been through a great deal and I can understand that you are worried that your husband might not be getting the correct dose of radiotherapy.
I haven't had radiotherapy for an adenosquamous skin cancer but I did have it for breast cancer. What I did learn is that patient's treatment plans are individual to them so if your husband has treatment for a shorter or longer time than the person before him, it doesn't mean that he isn't being treated correctly. To put both your minds at rest, your husband could ask to speak to the radiotherapy nurse to find out what his treatment plan is and why the timing is as it is next time he goes.
As for your husband having to go to a hospital further away when you have one nearer, that's probably because the nearer hospital doesn't have a radiotherapy suite. This is the same for me. My nearest hospital didn't provide radiotherapy so I had to travel further for my treatment.
I had radiotherapy over 10 days and each time I went I saw different members of the radiotherapy team. This doesn't mean that his treatment might be affected as they will all have access to his treatment plan and will be following that.
You also mentioned that this is the third skin cancer your husband has had and he doesn't know what type of skin cancers the previous ones were. A quick phone call to his consultant's secretary should be able to answer that for him, alternatively, the radiotherapy nurse can probably look that up for him.
I hope your husband can get answers to his questions to put both of your minds at rest.
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
Treatment is always stressful so please do get your husband to have a chat with the radiotherapy team about his present and past diagnoses along with anything else he's not sure about, eg the length of each radiotherapy treatment, etc.
They will want to reassure him and, in my experience, will be happy to explain anything he's not sure about.
You will hopefully both find it all less stressful if you get your questions answered.
Do let me know how he gets on
x
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
