1. < Head & Neck Cancer

Husband diagnosed with Squamous cell tumor on his neck.

Posted by donnac51 @donnac51, Feb 22 3:26pm

After 5 weeks 19 treatments it fell off. He was in extreme pain after that during radiation because of the way they were positioning his neck. He was dehydrated and admitted to the hospital. They did a Ct scan of his chest because of his cough and discovered he now has Stage 4 lung cancer. All this since December. To say we are devastated is putting it mildly. Right away they recommended Hospice. An oncologist came in and talked about immunotherapy. The problem with that is he had a kidney transplant. He said if the treatment caused his kidney to reject he could go on dialysis. He’s 73 and had the transplant in 2020. No real issues before this. We don’t know what to do.

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Mentor
Sue, Volunteer Mentor | @sepdvm | Feb 23 7:33am

I am so sorry to hear about this diagnosis @donnac51. The first thing I would do is seek out a second opinion from a large referral hospital/cancer center. Perhaps they have dealt with immunotherapy in a transplant patient before. Has there been a diagnosis of what type of cancer is in his lungs? A primary lung cancer or metastatic disease from his SCC? I have metastatic SCC, for the past 11 years, and most recently completed two years on an immunotherapy drug which caused total resolution of the last metastasis in kidney and lymph nodes. It was a very tolerable treatment. I would guess that while neither approach sounds positive, only the choice of immunotherapy offers the chance to prolong his life. Again, I am a big advocate of second opinions and nowadays that can be done by video visit in many places. Good luck to you both.

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donnac51 | @donnac51 | Feb 23 7:41am
In reply to @sepdvm "I am so sorry to hear about this diagnosis @donnac51. The first thing I would do..." + (show)
@sepdvm

I am so sorry to hear about this diagnosis @donnac51. The first thing I would do is seek out a second opinion from a large referral hospital/cancer center. Perhaps they have dealt with immunotherapy in a transplant patient before. Has there been a diagnosis of what type of cancer is in his lungs? A primary lung cancer or metastatic disease from his SCC? I have metastatic SCC, for the past 11 years, and most recently completed two years on an immunotherapy drug which caused total resolution of the last metastasis in kidney and lymph nodes. It was a very tolerable treatment. I would guess that while neither approach sounds positive, only the choice of immunotherapy offers the chance to prolong his life. Again, I am a big advocate of second opinions and nowadays that can be done by video visit in many places. Good luck to you both.

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Thank you so much. I am going to call Indiana University hospital today. It is where he had his transplant. I’m glad you are doing well. It gives me some hope!

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Moderator
Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Feb 27 11:09am
In reply to @donnac51 "Thank you so much. I am going to call Indiana University hospital today. It is where..." + (show)
@donnac51

Thank you so much. I am going to call Indiana University hospital today. It is where he had his transplant. I’m glad you are doing well. It gives me some hope!

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@donnac51, I have the same question as @sepdvm. Do you know if the cancer found in his lungs is a new primary lung cancer or metastasis (spread) from the squamous cell carcinoma?

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donnac51 | @donnac51 | Mar 10 12:12pm

He died on the 7th. Never got the chance to get a second opinion. I feel like I was lied to at the very least misinformed. My heart is broken.

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kathyheidt | @kathyheidt | Mar 11 10:09am

I have been following your thread as I have stage 4 acc in sinus. I am sosorry

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