hi all,
I am new to this ,,, i need some help and advice,
my father has a tumor behind his throat which cannot be operated on.
He was in hospital for two weeks before xmas as he had to wait for the results of the biopsy results...... After seeing the consultant today . they are saying it cannot be curred and they will be starting radiotherapy on the 12th of jan as they cannot give him chemo as he cannot eat properly because of the tumor... they have also given him 12 to 18 months to live with treatment .... is this normal... he is having trouble swallowing and now gets out of breath easy..... they may be putting a stent iside his tube to enable him to eat and build up strengh to then have chemo..... can somebody put this into laymens terms as i thought with a positive outlook and the right treatment he may have lived longer than 12 to 18 months as the consultant has passed this info on.

Dear Pitzey, Welcome to the club no one wants to join but this is a GREAT place for help. I know others will join in and I will pm you some info as I have done for others and it will be easier to copy and paste from there. You are not alone. I am glad you asking questions and are having a positive attitude!!! My father's tumor was too large to operate on and they were able to treat him with both rads and chemo together - he is currently in remmission - the treatments are tough - others will tell you the same. What is his age? how is his health othrewise? Do you know his TNM staging? that stands for Tumor, Nodes and Metastisize(sp?). How is his attitude? I say yes to the peg - nutrition is a must!!

hi,

My dad is only 64 ,,, i dont know about the other things ...... he is losing weight quite rapidly..... i dont understand how they can estimate how long someone has to live , without him having treatment yet

and his attitude is that he is going to fight it

GOOD FOR HIM (and you for reaching out!!)!! My father just turned 65 last month like I said find out the TNM - just because he can't eat should not stop chemo - how is is white blood cell count? he can have a peg and several have been on a peg only for quite some time. My father went from 185 to 140ish and is now back up to almost 150lbs - try to get more answeres from the docs - I sent you a pm - others will post also

sounds promising ..... many thanks