1. < Head & Neck Cancer

Husband diagnosed with tonsil cancer: looking for tips and support

Posted by joy345 @joy345, Jun 24, 2023

I am writing for my husband who was recently diagnose with Tonsil Cancer. He finished the biopsy and PET scan but we do not know what stage is his cancer. The hospital we are in and ENT Dr. will not performed surgery and we were informed by phone of 6 weeks of radiation and 3 cycles of Chemo. We will know details with the oncology and radiology later this week. We will be seeing another Dr. for second opinion.

I feel bad we do not know the stage of his cancer and other details on the treatment. My husband is depressed for this was unexpected. He was told its only inflammation on his lymph nodes and the biopsy confirmed to be SCC(Squamous Cell Carcinoma). As the caregiver, I am hoping this forum/discussions will provide us encouragement and suggestions/help on the treatment he will be having.

I am new to this group.
Thank you for understanding.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Head & Neck Cancer Support Group.

Mentor
William Olsen, Volunteer Mentor | @hrhwilliam | Apr 3 9:55pm
In reply to @cris2 "Do you know how long it takes before the weight goes back on, he’s been eating..." + (show)
@cris2

Do you know how long it takes before the weight goes back on, he’s been eating good now for a month and only 4lbs up, we thought it would be more. He lost almost 30 lbs.

Jump to this post

4 pounds in a month sounds good. He is getting what he needs plus a bit to store away.
For me if I can recall it took almost a year to gain back 35 I lost.
On the mend is music to the soul.

REPLY
1 reply
cris2 | @cris2 | Apr 4 5:23am
In reply to @hrhwilliam "4 pounds in a month sounds good. He is getting what he needs plus a bit..." + (show)
@hrhwilliam

4 pounds in a month sounds good. He is getting what he needs plus a bit to store away.
For me if I can recall it took almost a year to gain back 35 I lost.
On the mend is music to the soul.

Jump to this post

Ok thanks. When someone doesn’t want to gain(like me) it goes on quick!

REPLY
jclassey | @jclassey | Apr 4 11:34am
In reply to @cris2 "Do you know how long it takes before the weight goes back on, he’s been eating..." + (show)
@cris2

Do you know how long it takes before the weight goes back on, he’s been eating good now for a month and only 4lbs up, we thought it would be more. He lost almost 30 lbs.

Jump to this post

Jclassey again
It takes a while.
I went from 168 down to 140 and I have still only gone back up about 8 lbs since December. I do excercises most days too. So that’s more calories used. I eat all of the time.
Good to hear that he is able to eat now. Just be patient as long as he’s trending up that’s good!

REPLY
laconiaborn54 | @laconiaborn54 | Apr 4 11:41am

Hello joy345, I don't understand why they won't do surgery. I had cancer in left tonsil plus lump on left side of neck.
Both tonsils removed plus tissue scrape from back of throat along with removing 43 lymph nodes taken out. One node had cancer.
The surgery really went really and wasn't that bad when I woke up. After talking to my radiologist I opt out of radiation and she really didn't have a problem with it.
I still go to hospital once a month to be check on blood work pet scan coming up. If I were your I'd seek other doctors. Good luck.

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