My husband was diagnosed on 1/6/23 with base of the tongue cancer with 2 lymph nodes involved. He had the pet scan yesterday and we have not received any results yet. We did meet with a complete cancer team on Thursday. They told him his treatment will be 7 weeks of radiation 5 days a week and chemo once every 3 weeks. He will start in 2 weeks. They told him the radiation will take care of the lymph nodes.

In my case, I had 6 weeks of induction chemotherapy (carboplatin) prior to the standard treatment of 7 weeks of chemotherapy (cisplatin) and radiation (35 sessions) due to the size of my lymph node tumor on my neck. I won’t sugar coat the fact that the side effects during the later stage of treatment were not pleasant. Throat pain, excess mucus, dry mouth and throat, and loss of taste and appetite were the main ones. In my case, I ended up with a feeding tube, which actually was a blessing, as I had lost over 40 pounds. It’s tough, but you can get through with the knowledge that it is going to save or prolong your life. My side effects now are minimal had hopefully will go away or improve over time. That are some loss of taste (it’s about 50% of what it once was) and dry mouth. I can live with these. I don’t know if you will get any or all of these side effects, but I would recommend you follow your doctor’s advice and take the medication that’s offered to help alleviate them. I hope this helps. Reach out anytime you have a question. Take care.