Good morning
My 72 yo husband was diagnosed with HPV+ SCC Right tonsil) last May. He was T2N1 (3 nodes under 6cm but with PNI, vascular invasion and ENE). He underwent TORS and neck dissection, followed by 60gy radiation and 6 weeks of carboplatin (they did not recommend cisplatin due to current hearing loss). We were told by our oncologist (MassGeneral Dr and formerly from Dana Farber) that carboplatin was shown to be as effective as cisplatin but is less toxic (safer for hearing impaired, less nausea etc). I asked why they didn’t just use carboplatin for everyone and was told that cisplatin is the gold standard and medical field is hesitant to change. I later looked up the costs. Carboplatin is more than double the cost of cisplatin so I suspect insurance won’t cover carboplatin unless there is a medical reason to do so. Just my opinion but I am not a doctor! As you go through this difficult journey with your husband, two things that helped my husband immensely- Fiji water had the least metallic taste and Orgain Vanilla Nutritional Shakes we’re the easiest to get down when he had trouble eating. I mixed in isopure unflavored protein to keep his numbers up. Obviously everyone is different but thought this might help

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