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13 weeks post radiation and throat pain continues

Head & Neck Cancer | Last Active: Jan 27 12:18pm | Replies (22)
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@fwpoole

@srm, what youre going through sounds horrible. Did you also have surgery?

Im 2 years post chemo for NHL and now recently diagnosed with inoperable stage 1 Squamous Cell carcinoma P16 of the throat at the base of the tongue. I met with the radiation oncologist yesterday and he gives me < 10% chance of needing feeding tube or having serious swallowing issues because the tumor is growing inward into my larynx. 10% seems like pretty good odds but, after reading what others are going through and already experiencing chemo in 2019, Im scared for what lies ahead. And I thought retirement was going to be fun!

Stay strong @srm and do what you must to get through it all. My thoughts are with you. Good luck.

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Replies to "@srm, what youre going through sounds horrible. Did you also have surgery? Im 2 years post..."
srm | @srm | Oct 5, 2021

Hi @fwpoole
I believe everything will go very well for you. Did they tell you how many radiation sessions you will receive? I did not have surgery because the tumour was too large to remove.
There are others that have posted their adventures. All Head and Neck patients experience side effects. Some worse than others. As I had mentioned, I have had 3 different doctors tell me I’m just one of the unlucky ones. I have, or am still dealing with what seems like every side effect listed. I realize as a H&N survivor my life will never go back to pre-cancer normal. I don’t know what my new normal will be but I do know that what I’m going through will not last forever and stay as severe as it is now. My oncologist told me about a year post radiation gives you a fairly good picture of what I will be living with. In other words, by July 2022 I will have a fairly good idea what my new normal will be.
I hope all will go well for you. Stay strong and follow the advice of your team. Sounds like your odds are very good.

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