Hi Bassbuddy

A very warm welcome to our forum.

I am so sorry to hear about your wife's diagnosis and the difficult decision she is having to take. What stage was your wife's cancer and were clear margins achieved after her surgery?

There are side-effects to all cancer treatments. In the care of radiotherapy these are nowhere near as bad as they used to be. Radiotherapy has become much more targeted on the cancerous cells now and is not as harmful to the normal cells. Not everyone gets side-effects and there is always the option to stop treatment if they do.

It would be worth the two of you sitting down and drawing up a list of questions for her consultant. Ask some of the awkward questions such as, what are her chances of survival with/without radiotherapy. If it's likely to make a big difference, it would be worth having, but if not, she may have made the right decision.

Please keep in touch and let us know if she changes her mind. We are always here for both of you.

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx

Thank you Jolamine, we don’t know what stage the cancer was, only that it was caught early and had not spread. There all the area’s around the removed cancer and lymph nodes came back clear. We are seeing the consultant on Friday for a discussion? Gary

Sorry, yes alm the margins were clear and free from any cancer cells 

Hi,

My husband had 4 weeks of radiotherapy and I'm pretty sure he wishes now that he hadn't accepted the treatment. Some people have very few problems but for others the side effects are devastating. There is no right or wrong, its a very personal decision for the person with cancer. Id say support her decision either way, and enjoy your your lives as much as you can. 

K xx

Thank you K, your post is really appreciated x

Thank you Jolamine, I will let you know x

Hi bassbuddy.

Its a crucial decision and probably deserves a bit more deliberation after asking questions of the consultant. The all clear does not mean that all the cancer cells are gone just that none were found in the samples sent to the lab. The radiotherapy is a belt and braces approach to mopping up any possible remaining cancer. 11 years ago I had radiotherapy to jaw neck and throat after a radical neck dissection with removal of parotid gland and lymph nodes. The process is tough especially last few weeks and a fortnight after. It took me around 6 months to recover. My side effects were dry mouth, loss of taste, extreme difficulty swallowing food. Raw sore mouth, Skin burns permanent loss of beard on one side of face. Hardening of neck throat muscles Long term (15 years) increased risk of secondary cancer and osteonecrosis of the jaw. However I got through it with the wonderful help and care of the radiotherapy team. The prognosis was one year survival without treatment and long term remission with radiotherapy. Ive had 10 very good years of life since. The cancer has now come back and is incurable but I am taking a chance on every treatment offered to slow the progress and Im still enjoying life just returned from a weeks holiday in Portugal. Modern radiotherapy machines are even more targetted with less side effects. Listen very carefully to your wifes consultant write down the questions to ask and the answers given. Then take a bit of time to finally decide. Personally I would take every treatment offered to give the best chance of beating this very unforgiving disease. 

Ed