Can anyone help me with this? Once chemo treatment has commenced, does the tumour then stop growing? What is the likelyhood of it spreading during chemo.

Sensibly, I would think it continues to grow until all diseased cells are killed off.

As everyone must be, I am phobic about any new lumps and bumps. Bill (6 days post first of two 5 day sessions) has a new one appeared - on his palm. Can't be, can it??

Angie

It's extremely unlikely for squamous cell carcinoma to spread to the palm of a hand. Never heard of it happening at all.
After my surgery and subsequent radiotherapy I was worried sick about every ache and pain I had. I drove my consultant mad with my queries.
That was over 2 and a half years ago.

Tony K

Thanks Tony, I know I am nuts.....but apart from the lump in Bills hand, he is chocking and having difficulty swallowing more than before Chemo. It seems to me that his throat has got worse, is this usually the case, it gets worse before it gets better?

Angie

I had a radical neck dissection and tonsilectomy followed by six and a half weeks radiotherapy. No chemo - so to be honest I wouldn't quite know what to expect. If Bill is in the middle of chemo I would think his mouth and throat would be v painful.
Ask a consultant about the "stopping of the tumour growing" .I would think it the chemo is quite effective from day one but the side effects are tough.

Tony K

Hi Angie,
I was told that by having chemo and r/t together it doubles the side effects. All I can say is that it wasn't very pleasant! I choked and gagged all the time (still do occasionally). I have done it so much that I have had to have extra speech therapy as I have altered the muscles around my vocal chords. My speech therapist also reccommended steam inhaling (just plain hot water in a bowl with cloth over head!) That seemed to help the gunge quite a bit.
Before diagnosis I have never had a sore throat or anything like a problem with my throat. So I can definately say it gets worse before it gets better!
Keep smiling
Anne

Thanks Tony and Anne

It seems like no two cases are the same and the treatment seems to vary so widely. It would appear that chemo isnt as bad as RT. Bill goes again next week for his next lot of Chemo - one of the side effects, I am sure, is being nasty! he is just about getting back to normal now, so will enjoy these few days before we start again. Also, he was on steriods which I think lighted his mood a bit, then came off them when he came home.

Tony, you say in your profile that the neck tumour wasn't a primary, so does that mean that the primary is still lurking around somewhere unknown? I am not allowed to ask any questions Bill doesn't want to know and doesn't want me 'mythering' the consultant.

Anne, what were your symptoms if you didn't have a sore throat? Are you all clear now?

Angie

Hi Angie,
Sorry to hear you're having such a hard time.
You said before the lymph nodes were noticably reduced - so you can assume the same for the tumours too. I had nodes on my lungs, and my Oncy told me that if they hadn't changed but the tumour & glands responded to chemo then they were benign. Which was the case. The chemo and r/t combi is best as studies have shown that the cancer cells are more sensitive to this approach.

I think i said before that i'd have one week of being really sick and poorly in every three. & this did get longer by the 5th & 6th cycle. I know Bill's on a similar regime to me.

You should check out the lump in Bills hand though.As Tony says it does sound unlikely.

Thinking of you guys!
Michelle x

Angie,
I just had a lump in my neck which I thought was a swollen gland as I had had a large ear infection in February. It didn't go away and that's the start of my journey. I went into hospital feeling very fit and well and, well...
we know the rest!
Anne

Hi Chelle

do I sound miserable sorry, I guess I am just feeling sorry for myself, I broke my toe yesterday and we got broken into last week (no dogs you see). Guess I would be pretty nasty too if I had what you guys have/had.

This is the way I look at the tumour. If you had one of those big gold fish bowls full of oranges and the orange in the centre was bad and it made all the oranges touching it bad. So you took out the organges that were touching the main bad orange then all the new oranges that came into contact with the bad orange would become infected too. If you treated the oranges with chemotherapy so that it made the oranges that had become infected disappear, when does the main bad orange stop infecting and other new oranges that come into contact with it???????

So endeth my philosophy

How are your ears?

The lump on Bills hand has turned a bit blue, it now looks like a bit like a varicose vane. I am sure it is nothing and not connected but as Tony said you are looking out for anything slightly unusual. We will check it out when Bill goes back next week.

Mind how you go

Love Ange

Hi Anne

What a ****er. Bet you didnt smoke either. Bill never has. He says if he could find gods number he would ring him and say you got the wrong fella!

Angie

Ears are getting there thanks! i can hear again now!
I'm off for an early night (i know it's early but if i've got to work tomorrow i have to sacrafice my evenings til my staminas normal!)
I was explaining to a customer today, about how i cant have bread, crisps and chocolate cuz of the saliva stituation. Another maqn got the tail end of the conversation and just assumed i was on a diet. So he got out a BIG box of Thorntons chocolates and paraded them around saying "MMMMM you wont want these then. YUMM... Oh you might get fat" I looked at him and said "i'm size 8, i'm 5ft 8 and i'm 8 & half stone. If the RADIOTHERAPY hadn't of fryed my saliva glands i'd GLADLY eat your chocolates".
& then there was this other old guy. He was saying how when you retire all your days roll into one and you don't know what day of the week it is. I replied with "i know what you mean"! & he sad "how could you possibly know?? You're years from retirement" So i told him i'd been unwell and was off work for 5 months. He looked at me skeptically and then said, with a sarcastic tone in his voice " Ahhhhhhh, poooor you! Should i go buy you flowers or something" .
"No", i said. " thankyou, but i had plenty of flowers when i was in hospital RECOVERING FROM CANCER". He then apologised as he said i looked to well to have had anything serious and assumed i'd been pulling a sicky! Grr

Well done Chell, wouldn't have expected any less from you!!

Night Night

Angie

A busy thread this - it's brilliant!
Well Angie, I had secondary tumours burst out of the lymph nodes in my neck just below my right ear. A tonsil was cancerous too. The primary site was unknown. So I had an unknown primary cancer cell somewhere.
For this reason I had a high dose of RT all round my face, neck and the top of my spine. The radiologist was surprised that I was able to finish my RT. I had had such bad times during the treatment.
This was the only way they could be sure of getting the primary site.
I was sceptical of all this working - I really thought "too f***ing late -I will die anyway". I subsequently had a breakdown.
I didn't die - so I decided to live life again.
I am back in society, living well and keeping fit. Two and a half years down the line. It just took time.

cheers Tony K

Hi Tony,

Now I am a new hand at all this, (but learning fast), so you will have to excuse my ignorance and my many questions. How could they be sure the primary was above the shoulders. How long did the whole treatment take? Do you have any permanent damaged at all? taste, speech etc.

Angie

Hey Angie!
You can tell where the primary cancer is from the lymph glands inolved ie. Cervical lymph glands = above the shouldrs, Armpit lymph glands = breast/lungs etc, lymph glands in groin = that area.

But i'd be interested to know - how do they know the cancerous tonsil wasn't the primary? are the cells inm secondary cancers different from those in the primary tumour?