i started getting a hoarse voice in december and started going to the doc in january. went on some medicine or something. after it didn't clear was referred to ENT and they thought i had just strained my voice and wanted to give it another couple of weeks. no change & i called the family doc and they told me to go on voice rest for 10 days. then went on voice rest again and finally ENT referred me to another doc who examined me and scheduled me for a biopsy. so after about 7 months i was finally diagnosed with throat cancer on 28 june 07.

recommended treatment was radiation. at sometime before the the radiation started they told me to gain some weight, so i went from 179 to maybe 190. i was eating day and night. every time i went by a mac donalds i would stop and get their 99 cent double cheeseburger for a snack even though i had just had a meal.

i was getting quite anxious for the treatment to start.... but the radiologist kept sending my treatment plan back for my calculations and i finally started on 6 aug 07. i don't remember the terminology, but he was using a new treatment procedure that would offer better results and it was critical that everything was perfect.....

i really didn't know much about the mask they were going to make. i agreed to a permanent tattoo mark on my chest. just a dot. well the tech had me put my hands in some ropes to help keep my shoulders down. the ropes were connected to a board which i was to put my feet against. well i thought i had to keep pressure on the board and i was thoroughly exhausted after the procedure which took about 20 minutes or so.

so my first treatment i was on the table for about 25 minutes while they got me set up and gave me the treatment.....it was the same thing for me..... all stretched out & aching something terrible. at this time after i got home i told my wife i didn't think i was going to be able to go thru the treatments.... she got all scared and talked to her mother who is a psychiatrist and had her talk to me. told me i just needed to talk to the doc and get a sedative to help me get thru the treatments. well when i talked to the techs this is when i was told to relax when i was on the table....and i didn't have to put all that pressure on the footboard. just had to keep my shoulders down. during one of my treatments the techs told me they had gotten chewed out by the doc because my shoulder was in the way. after that each time they got me ready, before they started the procedure i would ask if my shoulders were down.

i also remembered asking the doc how much radiation i was getting. i was curious because i was usually on the table for about 15 minutes were others were there for about 5 minutes. doc replied that he was giving me all the radiation he could without killing me..... LOL.

after a week or so they started giving me a shot which was to help save my salivary glands. on the 3rd shot i started developing a fever that night. i called the on call nurse and she told me i needed to come to the emergency room immediately..... my wife, boo hooing all the way finally got me there. she thought i wasn't going to make it..... well after being there from about 11:00 pm to 5 am they released me. this was on a monday. the shots were scheduled for mon, wed and friday. well on wedneday i told the nurse i am lucky you are alternating arms on giving me those shots since i am all broke out where you gave me that last one..... she looked at it and told me to show it to the doc and gave me another shot. this was the day i would be seeing the doc and i showed him my arm and lifted up my shirt and it looked like i had hives. told me i was allergic to the shots and i wouldn't be getting any more of them.

same story, but this time i headed to the emergency room at 10 p.m. and got out of there about 4 a.m. remember i stated that i gained about 10 lbs prior to starting my radiation. good thing since each trip to the emergency room i lost 5 lbs. my 2d trip did not go so well. the nurse must have pricked me about 10 or 12 times to get blood. finally got some and said it would be 2 hours to get the results. well 2 hours later another nurse came in and said he was giving the other nurse some help because he didn't get enough blood.... and of course this nurse had no trouble.... but it meant another 2 hours waiting for the results.... so when they are getting ready to release me the first nurse was back and pulled the needle out of my arm that was used to empty a saline solution and another bottle which was a medication.... i told him you forgot to put a glove on when you removed the needle.... he replied that it was okay since he didn't get any blood on himself..... i will still go back to the hospital and talk to them about staff infections, etc.... i really didn't care if the fool nurse got blood on himself.... i was worrying about whether he would get something in the opening from the needle in my arm....

the doc was please with my progress during radiation.... told me that many patients when he looks down their throats it looks like raw hamburger..... i only took the pain medication a couple of times. one time it seems like i took 3 tablespoons instead of the 2 i was supposed to take..... whew, my mother-in-law chewed me out something terrible.... i just happened to mention to her that the medicine was causing me to be jumpy or something and she asked about it....

one of the reasons i was so anxious about starting the radiation was i didn't want to miss the end of the high school and college football games which we have season tickets too. i am also involved in going to karate a couple of nights and week and once a month had a 200 mile drive where i go for karate training in my original okinawan style. doc just told me to do whatever i felt like doing. i only missed one class or a football game.

during this whole ordeal i never mentioned my situation to anyone other than my 2 karate teachers and my family. however, towards the end of my treatment i avoided people something terrible since i was unable to talk at all. just a whisper and sometime i would loose that. i would ask the doc if i am going to get my voice back. he would reply "you'll be able to communicate"......

i will also let folks know that radiation can cause a loss of hair. on the back of my neck my hair line lost 1 1/2 to 2 inches. doc thought it would come back, but it hasn't and now he says it probably won't. the neat thing is that i can shave rather quickly now. my skin on my neck and under my chain is hair-free. so that is one thing that is good.... but it is heck of a way to take care of a hair problem. course my neck is enlarged from the radiation treatment and just recently i asked the doc about cosmetic surgey. said no way, first because of the treatment you start surgery and you could be left with some ugly scars which would be much worse and then was going to talk about disturbing the fat in my neck which had been radiated and i told him he didn't need to say anymore. he had already conviced me....

one time when i talked with the nurse about my skin burning she gave me some ointment to us. it was a sample. something like vaseline. after using it and then going in for my treatment i told the techs my neck was burning from the last treatment and she saw the greasy stuff on my neck and used alcohol to wash it off. said that is a no no. it was just like grease in a frying pan.....

during the treatment the radiation did wear me out. on the weekend i might not get out of bed until 2 or 3 in the afternoon. during the week it would be noon before i could get up and i was going to bed early at night. finally on my 35th treatment i was physically exhausted and missed my first karate class. after my treatment i just went home and went to bed.

by the way, during the treatment i turned 67. after my first exam, doc said tumor was getting smaller, 2d exam said he only see a pink spot, 3d exam doesn't see anything. i know rotate between the ENT doc and the radiologist who are keeping an eye on me for the next 5 years.....

i am not a smoker, no do i drink alcohol. doc's best guess was 2nd hand smoke.....

i am just thankful for the medical folks that got me through this and my physical condition which allowed me go through the treatment with few side effects.....

and now my wife doesn't have to worry any more... hopefully.... hadn't told her about the situation, but after i was diagnosed the cancer coordinator called my home phone by mistake to advise me of my appointments which she had set up. lots of boo hooing and hollering when i got home that day. i did let her go with me when i had my appointments with the radiologist and the chemo docs. my son went with me for my biopsy, but he didn't have a clue what was going on. other than that i was a loner.

sorry, that this is such a rambling note and i am so late in posting, but i did want to put my story up since folks can read about my experiences and know that there is always the possibility it won't be as bad as how the doc's picture it. they tell you the worst to prepare you and if you are lucky, you could be like me and basically skate thru..... of course while i was skating thru i felt more like describing it as going to hell and back.

i should have written i still have a problem with dry mouth sometimes. i use a humidifier at night which helps since i tend to sleep with my mouth open.....

takes me forever to eat something like steak. have to chop it up into so small pieces.

i have started to get my sense of taste back. still have problems with my voice being hoarse at times. other times i am just like before i got sick.

the doc told me the radiation treatment that i had could continue to affect me for the next 6 to 12 months.

one of the meals i would eat just to keep something on my stomach was the banquet salisbury steak dinners which i would get at wal-mart for 88 cents. they are high calorie and go down rather easily.......

Hi Pete,
Let me first welcome you to our exclusive but the most sought after club and wish you A Very Happy New Year.

You started your journey with the illness in more or less the same way I had but with a few changes here and there. While I was celebrating my 49th. birthday you had started your journey on June 28th. Hell is a better option then ever contracting Cancer - and that is the truth. It changes your life totally and even the things you love to do have to be changed in a manner to keep it in tandem with the illness. A lot of people here have been through a lot and have emerged winners - however winners or loosers everyone had a lot of guts to face the trauma they had to face. For comparisons sake take a look at my escapade with Cancer on the main page mentioned as Ananth's Story.

You will no doubt find a lot friends on this site and will make friends that you would never imagine such existed on this earth. The men are fantastic and the "girls" lovely and full of life.

Take care (pistol??) Pete
Ananth

quote:

Ananth

Ananth, thanks for your reply. i had read your ordeal many months ago and thats why i wrote that i skated thru my treatment.... i just reread your story and it amazes me you are still amongst us....

forget the book, i want to see the movie....

5 years ago i lost my 56 year old sister from breast cancer and 30 days later lost my 48 year old brother to a brain tumor and a year later my mother at about 79.... father is now 89 and going strong. so knowing that i already had 66 good years i wasn't too upset. after all, my retirement baby boy graduated from college the month before my diagnosis so i was satisfied. still hope to be around for many more years though....

my wife cried when she learned the news... she was sad that i had not made my trip to Tibet to trek through the mountains.... will do next year though....

Well done Pete, you seem to have come out of it fantastically well. Look forward to hearing about your trip to Tibet as soon as you have booked the tickets!

Dear Pete,

Amazing as it may be - its not just you but the entire medical fraternity here and most of all I. I have no idea why I am still around but guess was destined to be so because of rdoc and all the fantastic family I have here. I am all for you when you say forget the book -when you want to see the movie - it will make a fantastic epic!!

I am sorry about your sister, brother, Mum and now you (you should not be counted though!).But then life has some funny ways of doing things, which we will never understand. There are no doubts you will be around for a long long time and now that you have seen you son graduate - you still have to see him grow in life and you will and still have to play with you grandchildren. I think one joke (below is enough for the day) and if you do like it with no hard feelings - I'll post one more as you are an ideal candidate for that one!!!!!
Wives and Women( hey, everyone - no lectures please ladies!!)are all the same all over the world and cry at everything. They cry when they are happy, when they are sad, when a puppy is brought home and on and on. I truly hope you will make that trip to Tibet treking through the Himalayas and you will do it next year and thats my wish for you as this new years wish.

I truly wish it as of today as I am not around next year when you set off on your trek.Tibet is a lovely place and not to undermine the Chinese they have mantained it well. They have their idealogies and we are noone to dispute it except help those who want to get away from thei way of thought (which is hardly communist anymore.)

I live life as it comes and have always done so, hardly ever worrying about the consequences. Call it impulsiveness but luckily I have never been unlucky on all the things I have done. I believe as long as you are convinced about your self and each time you look into the mirror you see a winner - you can achieve anything.Each time you look into the mirror fall in love, again and again,with yourself each time. As long as you see someone special in the mirror - you begin to become a winner.

Leaving the topic of cancer and Tibet, the funny thing, Pete, is that I have never ever visited the US of A and never have had the desire to. I had so many opportunities but backed out as I have a mental block about life in the US. I would travel so often to Mexico and my sister who lives in the US and has been there for 25 years used to keep pestering me to come over for a break - I would instead offer to pay for her and my nieces tickets to come into Mexico! Even today - when I look back on my days of travelling - I have no regrets about having missed out the US.

I must give you something to read and please do not misundertand me as it is all in fun and I am the joker here in the pack!!. This is how it goes: just sit back and enjoy it. That also is an invite to all my dear friends on rdoc.


THE AMERICAN WAY OF LIFE – TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT AS IT OUR AMERICAN WAY - UNIQUE ONLY TO US AND THE REST OF YOU'LL DONT EVEN TRY AND KEEP UP WIT US. YOU'LL DO NOT STAND A CHANCE.


I had someone ask for an aisle seats so that his or her hair wouldn't get messed up by being near the window. A client called in inquiring about a package to Hawaii. After going over all the cost info, she asked, "Would it be cheaper to fly to California and then take the train to Hawaii?" I got a call from a woman who wanted to go to Capetown. I started to explain the length of the flight and the passport information when she interrupted me with "I'm not trying to make you look stupid, but Capetown is in Massachusetts. "Without trying to make her look like the stupid one, I calmly explained, "Capecod is in Massachusetts, Capetown is in Africa." Her response ... click. A man called, furious about a Florida package we did. I asked what was wrong with the vacation in Orlando. He said he was expecting an ocean-view room. I tried to explain that is not possible, since Orlando is in the middle of the state. He replied, "Don't lie to me. I looked on the map and Florida is a very thin state." I got a call from a man who asked, "Is it possible to see England from Canada?" I said, "No." He said "But they look so close on the map." Another man called and asked if he could rent a car in Dallas. When I pulled up the reservation, I noticed he had a 1-hour lay over in Dallas. When I asked him why he wanted to rent a car, he said, "I heard Dallas was a big airport, and I need a car to drive between the gates to save time." A nice lady just called. She needed to know how it was possible that her flight from Detroit left at 8:20am and got into Chicago at 8:33am. I tried to explain that Michigan was an hour ahead of Illinois, but she could not understand the concept of time zones. Finally I told her the plane went very fast, and she bought that! A woman called and asked, "Do airlines put your physical description on your bag so they know who's luggage belongs to who?" I said, "No, why do you ask?" She replied, "Well, when I checked in with the airline, they put a tag on my luggage that said FAT, and I'm overweight, is there any connection?" After putting her on hold for a minute while I "looked into it" (I was actually laughing) I came back and explained the city code for Fresno is FAT, and that the airline was just putting a destination tag on her luggage. I just got off the phone with a man who asked, "How do I know which plane to get on?" I asked him what exactly he meant, which he replied, "I was told my flight number is 823, but none of these darn planes have numbers on them." A woman called and said, "I need to fly to Pepsi-cola on one of those computer planes." I asked if she meant to fly to Pensacola on a commuter plane. She said, "Yeah, whatever." A businessman called and had a question about the documents he needed in order to fly to China. After a lengthy discussion about passports, I reminded him he needed a visa. "Oh no I don't, I've been to China many times and never had to have one of those." I double-checked and sure enough, his stay required a visa. When I told him this he said, "Look, I've been to China four times and every time they have accepted my American Express." A woman called to make reservations; "I want to go from Chicago to Hippopotamus, New York" The agent was at a loss for words. Finally, the agent: "Are you sure that's the name of the town?" "Yes, what flights do you have?" replied the customer. After some searching, the agent came back with, "I'm sorry, ma'am, I've looked up every airport code in the country and can't find a Hippopotamus anywhere." The customer retorted, "Oh don't be silly. Everyone knows where it is. Check your map!" The agent scoured a map of the state of New York and finally offered, "You don't mean Buffalo, and do you?" "That's it! I knew it was a big animal!"


1.Only in America......can a pizza get to your house faster than an ambulance.

2.Only in America......are there handicap parking places in front of a skating rink.

3.Only in America......do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions while
healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front.

4.Only in America......do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries, and a diet coke.

5.Only in America......do banks leave both doors open and then chain the pens to the counters.

6.Only in America......do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our useless junk in the garage.

7.Only in America......do we use answering machines to screen calls and then have call waiting so we won't miss a call from someone we didn't want to talk to in the first place.

8.Only in America......do we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and buns in packages of eight.

9.Only in America......do we use the word 'politics' to describe the process so well: 'Poli' in Latin meaning 'many' and 'tics' meaning 'bloodsucking creatures'.

10.Only in America......do they have drive-up ATM machines with Braille lettering.

11.Only in America......can u be born a poor black man and grow up to be a rich white woman or rich plastic white/brown pevert.(think MJ)

Lots of love and hugs ( I am known for my hugs!!)
Ananth

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ANANTH,

Hi Pete, I'm glad it all went well for you. Positive stories are always good for the forum. Hagg.

hey it sounds like our stories are about the same, .i had the ethyol shots and seem to do ok cant say as i care for the rad table. always afraid of falling off .i had stage1t1a vocal cord cancer.went to ent in nov and everything looked good . then went the14th of jan he saw something a nodular on my vocal cord now moved my scan up a month.so now am really scared,hopefully nothing will show up.

also had chemo for 6 weks. relly need to stop smoking .wish i knew then what i know now please take care

You have still not given up smoking those death sticks? You dont have to plan - just stop and dont smoke any more.
Ananth

Not that easy Ananth. It took me 8 years after diagnosis to kick smoking. Hagg.

Dear Hag,
I too smoked during the course of my tratment bu now its been seven years and I cannot stand the smell of cigarettes anywhere close to me. If you smoked to seven/eight years after diagnoises you must have had the Death wish. I feel you were unlucky to contract he cancer but lucky the life sticks did not take you away from us and you are still kicking about
Lots of love, and Hug,
Ananth

I couldn't agree more.

i really need to stop smoking one way or another.But it is like losing your best friend.istopped drinking a lot easier that was in 96.dont miss it at all.im so afraid it will come back i also have ms on top of this.
every little pain makes me panic. im anly 5mos out . irelly dont want to go through this again.have tried everything.
now they found a nodular apperence on the same vocal cord what ever that is .say it doesnt look like the last time hope it is just from rad my pet is feb 14 .

Hi Leity and the other smoker(namely Hagg),
Boy - you guys are really asking for the bull to come and ram straight in to you'll. Trust me if you stop smoking even now you will feel a lot of changes for the positive - however, if you have a death wish -you have it coming as one does not think of giving up smoking at this stage but just stops.
I know its not easy as Hagg says but I dont think you have too many options. I too enjoyed my smoking and not because it was an addiction but as I enjoyed the smoke - which would help me keep the stress away (thats what I thought) and kill my appetite (so that I need not stop working to have that 15 minute meal!!). Well - now I have the stress - but no smoke and cannot eat or drink at all to worry about.
Just kick the habit and dont make excuses!!!
Take care and lots of love and hugs,
Ananth