Meet others living with Head & Neck Cancer: Introduce yourself

Hi, I'm Roger. I'm 70 years old and had TORS surgery for a base of tongue tumor and right side lymph nodes removed on April 3rd. I am doing pretty good, although I have coughing episodes that I assume is from the excessive saliva production. I think I read somewhere that cough medicines should not be taken while the tongue is healing from surgery. Does anyone have insight or recommendations?

Hi Roger @rlbaker53 and welcome to the Head and Neck group. You should be able to quick ask your GP or the surgeon if you can use cough meds and get a response that way. Everyone's body responds differently to the surgery you had but cough seems rather common, at least for a while.
Any additional or follow-up treatments being considered such as Radiation or Chemo?
If you are having other issues later on that you want some input about, you might consider opening a specific Discussion which will bring in many eyes and likely helpful comments. In the mean time, give this a few days and we will see what transpires. Again welcome.

Appreciate the feedback!
Best to all of you!

Hello folks, Michael again. ( Th OLD Guy that Had A tumor and the base of his Tounge )
You all can expect friends to mysteriouly vanish once they know of your Cancer. Same goes for
your savings. You will also have a problem with Fatigue but you can "Bull" through it. You
also should also get to a gym. I sugest LEGS and Triceps as a priority. If you sit on your but
all day, your muscles go to hell and getting up from a sitting positon will become VERY difficult.
Once you see results from your workouts, YOU ARE HOOKED ! Tough it out. You'll be glad you did

Hi everyone, I was diagnosed with Squamous Cell cancer on the outside and inside of my right nostril. I didn't think that it would be a big deal with the MOHS Surgeon to remove and repair. To my dismay after the first cut the surgeon came back and said "this can kill you". He told me he would have to refer me to oncologist afterward and wanted to know if I wanted to go to Boston MA or Worcester MA! After two more cuts he recieved clear margins which was told to me by the surgical assistants, he was gone!! The surgical assistants wrapped my nose and face without any reconstruction of the huge whole in my nose and above my lip! I had an appointment at MEE within a week with a diagnosis of Squamous Cell Carcinoma with PNI! The PNI is the major issue, I was given option of 6 weeks 30 treatments of Radiation or follow up with scan in 3 months and to watch how the huge hole granulated on its own! I was still second guessing myself about radiation and asked for a referral for a consultation with Radiologist oncologist. I met with him and he told me that the PNI decreases mortality rate, but also said that reconstruction of my nose would not be successful after radiation because the skin on the face thins.
I decided that I want to get the reconstruction done now (appointment with Surgeon tomorrow) , once it is healed I plan to have radiation! I want to LIVE! I am 63 and retired my partner is 68 and has signs of Dementia. I do not drive highway (major fear) and need him to drive to Boston for Dr. Appointments, but radiation will only be 20 minutes non highway! Looking for any advice from anyone who had SSC with PNI and there experience. Please and Thank You

Welcome, Pam. I see you started a new discussion with your questions here:
- Squamous cell carcinoma (SSC) with perineural invasion (PNI) https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/ssc-with-pni/

Click the link to see the responses you've received so far.
I expanded the title to spell out the abbreviations. Can you please confirm, are you using PNI for perineural invasion?

Hello! I would like to know if anyone has had endoscopic salvage nasopharyngectomy as a treatment option for a recurrence of nasopharyngeal cancer? This is the recommended treatment plan and would like to know others’ experience. Thank you.

Hi @apple32, I'm tagging fellow members like @ltecato @kat63016 @josk @joannemulholland7 @suzannekay753 @krob @snotbox2014 @mtborz, who have experience with cancer of the nasopharynx, either as a patient or caring for someone. I'm not sure if anyone has experience with surgery such as salvage nasopharyngectomy.

I'm sorry to hear that your husband's cancer has recurred. I did a quick search about salvage endoscopic nasopharyngectomy to learn a bit more myself and I found this hopeful statement... "Salvage endoscopic nasopharyngectomy has better survival prognosis and fewer complications in the management of early stage rNPC, compared to re-irradiation. ..." Read more here:
- Clinical Outcomes of Salvage Endoscopic Nasopharyngectomy for Patients With Advanced Recurrent Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8340003/

Has your husband's surgery been scheduled?

Apple32,
I’m sorry but I don’t have any experience with this type of surgery. My husband had cancer many years ago when they weren’t t doing surgeries.
I can tell you not to give up hope however. My husband was the 2nd person in the US that had been diagnosed with Nasopharyngeal sc cancer. They pronounced a death sentence at age 21 for stage 4. Today he is 62 years old and healthy. My mother in law was a positive Polly and she said if he’s given a 10% chance to live then that’s 10%. How do you know you aren’t in that 10%? She was right. Sometimes we hear the not so great news but forget about the hope still hiding there. Prayers for you and your family. I pray all goes well

Thank you. Yes, his surgery is scheduled for next Tuesday 6/4. We have a tele-visit with the doctor tomorrow to go over more details for the surgery.