HPV Tonsil cancer: I'm very nervous about chemo and radiation

@harleytiger

Also, as I mentioned in other posts it just about completely cured my dry mouth in 2015 after only 9 appts.

Hi @roblem...How long after radiation ended did you have the electro-acupuncture? Did your person have saliva treating success prior to yours and therefore know where to place the needles? I had 10 sessions of regular acupuncture 6 months after finishing radiation but found no improvement. Recently I found an acupuncturist that does the electro version but haven't moved forward yet.

@longboat1

I had 35 rounds (7weeks) of Photon radiation for a total of 70Gy and 3 rounds of Cisplatin chemo for tonsil cancer back in 2008 but no surgery and to help with the brutal dry mouth and after my research I tried ELECTRICAL STIMULATION ACUPUNCTURE in 2015 which ironically was just being offered at my cancer clinic for head & neck cancer patients. I was tested to get a baseline and retested after 8-10 appts. and had great results. Never needed to go back and has been a non-issue even with only one working salivatory gland, and I don't have to carry a water bottle with me either to this very day.

So, it looks like it was 7yrs. after my chemo & radiation treatments.

Hope this helps.

@roblem
Thank you for the info. I quit after 29 rounds of radiation and 3 cisplatin. Couldn't take the strangling phlegm from the radiation that kept me awake all night. My blood went out of spec after 3 chemo sessions. Fortunately this was enough to kill my cancer.

What clinic treated you and provided the electro acupuncture? I'll contact them for guidance. Thanks!

Check if there is a Memorial Sloan Kettering in your area. They have an ongoing clinical trial for head and neck cancer. If qualified, they have a specific pet scan that is done on day 10 of treatments. If results come back non hypoxic then treatments are shortened. My husband just went through this,he had 15 radiation treatments and 2 chemo sessions with lots of hydration infusions as well.

Hello from a fellow 67 yr old male HPV+ tonsil T 2 and 1 lymph node cancer treatment patient. (current)
Just got started with chemo (cesplatin 74mg) ) and IMRT radiotherapy, have now had two chemo days and 5 radiation treatments. An ENT surgeon with robotic technology balked at a surgery.
Proton therapy is not available at this clinic or anywhere within 100s miles unfortunately.
Standard of care treatment plan of 7 chemo days and 35 radiation days (70 gray) but highly doubt it will need to be completed with the rapid progress being made already. I get to look at this tumor in the back of my mouth w/flashlight after each treatment and it is already 1/2 the size it was when starting. Totally amazed at how well this therapy is working .
Yeah some side effects from the chemo so far and expect it all to get worse before better but the options of not doing anything are worse. I could already feel this thing growing down my throat when treatment started.
Have discussed this with the doc and was given the ok to end treatment when and if desired . He is stuck with the standard of care plan and evidently is not permitted to end treatment early so from my research on trials and study's it seems with my personal situation I may only need 1/2 -2/3 the treatments . Its call de-escalating treatment in the cancer world and is to help minimize all the side effects.
Makes you wonder how much of the standard care treatment plan is backed by money/income for the clinic. Was diagnosed approx 3 months ago and have met dozens of people in the medical world and faced treatment delays from tests and scheduling appoints. Its a busy field these days.
Anyhow good luck to anyone going through this . There is lots of reading out there on trials and study's NIH is a good source where they pull a lot of studies together to view.
Be your own advocate for de-escalation you can make your own calls on the standard of care treatment plans which most clinics are using.

@lizzyj58 WOW! Just plain wow! I was in the Mayo study that looked at shortening treatment. So glad its coming to fruition. MSK is doing great work. I read their newsletters. Medicine is making real advances for H and N cancers.

Hello from a fellow 67 yr old male HPV+ tonsil T 2 and 1 lymph node cancer treatment patient. (current)
Just got started with chemo (cesplatin 74mg) ) and IMRT radiotherapy, have now had two chemo days and 5 radiation treatments. An ENT surgeon with robotic technology balked at a surgery.
Proton therapy is not available at this clinic or anywhere within 100s miles unfortunately.
Standard of care treatment plan of 7 chemo days and 35 radiation days (70 gray) but highly doubt it will need to be completed with the rapid progress being made already. I get to look at this tumor in the back of my mouth w/flashlight after each treatment and it is already 1/2 the size it was when starting. Totally amazed at how well this therapy is working .
Yeah some side effects from the chemo so far and expect it all to get worse before better but the options of not doing anything are worse. I could already feel this thing growing down my throat when treatment started.
Have discussed this with the doc and was given the ok to end treatment when and if desired . He is stuck with the standard of care plan and evidently is not permitted to end treatment early so from my research on trials and study's it seems with my personal situation I may only need 1/2 -2/3 the treatments . Its call de-escalating treatment in the cancer world and is to help minimize all the side effects.
Makes you wonder how much of the standard care treatment plan is backed by money/income for the clinic. Was diagnosed approx 3 months ago and have met dozens of people in the medical world and faced treatment delays from tests and scheduling appoints. Its a busy field these days.
Anyhow good luck to anyone going through this . There is lots of reading out there on trials and study's NIH is a good source where they pull a lot of studies together to view.
Be your own advocate for de-escalation you can make your own calls on the standard of care treatment plans which most clinics are using.