Hello and thanks for posting

I am sorry to hear about your grandad undergoing treatment for tonsil cancer at the moment.

It can take time for enlarged lymph nodes and cancerous tumours to shrink with radiotherapy and it doesn't mean that the cancer isn't responding to the treatment.

Radiotherapy is designed to kill off cancer cells and stop their ability to divide, grow and spread. So to begin with there may be no changes to it's outer size or appearance but it doesn't mean that things aren't happening within the cancer cells themselves.

Try not to worry or read too much into this but do encourage your grandad to discuss this and any other questions he may have with his team the next time he sees them. They are in the best position to assess him and will at an appropriate time arrange a follow up scan to see how things are going and to decide what may need to happen next.

We have a section about tonsil cancer and it's treatments here on our website that you may like to take a look at.

I hope this is helpful but do get back in touch if you have more questions.

Best wishes

Naomi