Treatment complete and health anxiety or not

I haven't posted in a while , I was diagnosed with hpv oralpharynx cancer with no primary source found. I have underwent a tonsillectomy,  removal of the lining of the back of my throat and mucosectomy where the skin on base of tongue is removed. I have had 6 weeks of radiotherapy and two large doses of chemotherapy (cisplatin).

I've been told I need to wait three months now for the inflammation to go down enough to get an accurate pet scan. I am a bit concerned as before treatment started I was getting pain in my spine and when I pass urine it's not flowing as big as it used to. My oncologist said I've been checked from head to toe and this is nothing to do with the cancer. I keep feeling little niggles in the other side of my neck and chin , this is the side that wasn't treated, the lump is still there on the left hand side and I generally don't feel great.  I was really bad with nausea and sickness all the way through treatment and ended up with a driver in for 7 days. I never needed a feeding tube and now eating a combination of ensure drinks and soups. I don't have any difficulty swallowing but due to taste going I can't tolerate many foods. Recently started taking porridge too.

When I finally got diagnosed I told my ent Dr my GP kept saying I'm very in tune with my body and its nothing to worry about , it was just muscle tension and gave me muscle relaxants and had me believing it was all on my head and my ent said you know your own body and don't be fobbed off. 

So here I am again with this spine pain and urine issue and wondering if I should just leave it till after April or take it further with either my own Gp or tell the cancer team. I also have a white patch on the roof of my mouth just above gum line and got told that was nothing to worry about. 

I may have developed health anxiety due to everything I've went through with the cancer but I'm only 41 years old and extremely worried it will spread to my lungs and then there's pretty much nothing that can be done. 

 

  • Hi Samster,

    It's probably nothing to worry about but please contact your cancer team and ask whether you need a re-scan or re-testing. If you don't, you're bound to worry about it. 
     

    I wouldn't say I have health anxiety but quite naturally I am very much aware of potential symptoms of my own cancer returning. I'm on a watch and wait regime - with me doing the watching, backed up by 6 monthly CT scans. I'm writing this whilst waiting to have my canula removed after a routine CT scan.

     

    Good luck and Happy New Year!

    Dave