I cant offer any experience but I have been referred to ENT by. my doctor today due to abnormal swelling around my left tonsil area.  I had ongoing throat irritation in the new year,  a course of antibiotics did nothing to help .. 

I have my fingers crossed all will be okay for you today and your diagnosis will be much of nothing or easily rectified. 

Thank you for your reply. I've had a friend with swellings on their tonsils, which turned out to be harmless cysts. So I guess a lump in that area isn't always as bad as it seems.

My issue is a little lower down. Tried looking with a torch, but its somewhere near base of tongue or slightly lower I think, so couldn't see it. Probably best I don't see it. I did a week of antibiotics for something else coincidentelly. Did nothing for my issue either.

Preparing for the worse today. Not sure how you do that. I feel tired, weak and worried all a the same time. Trying also to tell myself that perhaps ignorance, at least for the next few hours, is bliss.

Oh I'm sure you will be back running and swimming in no time!! And good for you reaching out for help, I will follow in your steps. 
 

I can't believe your biopsy site is still so swollen 6 weeks on! Did the consultants say anything about it when you went in? My biopsy was to the left of my ulvula just behind my left tonsil so I would have never have imagined the ulvula to be affected. I'm wondering if it's was all the tubes and cameras that were down my throat instead x

I know , 6 weeks on and it really does worry me and two consultants have seen it and all they say is it looks very sore and to keep taking painkilles every 4 hours ,  i have been doing this for weeks on end now but i cant keep taking painkillers like this and i try to avoid them until it becomes too painful .  I will repeat my conerns on Wednesday to the team I meet but my worry is it will be 'not their department' and i feel a little lost and abandoned on this constant battle 

I see your point about the uvula too , as you say,  maybe repercussions form biopsy gadgets and as long as it shows improvement , then this is a good sign I am sure, if it  were deteriorating then I would think to worry  .  

x
 

I trend to worry about every little glitch now lol - i cough i worry , feel a lump when I swallow , I worry - I am constantly checking my neck for swollen lymph nodes -   i feel this is now moulding me into a very difderent me ! 
 

Have you had any anti biotics at all? I wonder if they would help. Which team is it you're meeting on Wednesday? 

Another terrible night sleep tossing and turning with that gut wrenching feeling :cry:

x

Oddly , i have had two lots of antibiotics since this begun and each time they have eased the area .  I even had some left over from previous , only two days worth but i took them and yes the pain eased .  I tried explaining this to the consultant 2 weeks ago and he simply said but it is not infected , I know this but he dismissed any offer , I dont think he understood .

I suppose i could try and speak to my GP see if she understands and as I am now a cancer patient and get a call the day I need her.

Wednesday I meet at the hospital where I will have my treatment , so I meet the radiotherpay team, a dietitiian and a speech therapist .

I woke at 3am lastnight , was still awake at 4:25 , not so much fretting just unable to sleep so I listened to some meditation and mindful breathing programs lol ... oddly they do distract me 

x

Oh well that's good! No more waiting around for gp appointments! Might be worth seeing if you could get some more maybe, can't harm. 
 

ah ok - good luck with Wednesday - you'll have to let me know how you get on. The meditation in the night sounds like a good idea - I should try that one. My mind just goes into crazy mode in the night though I don't know where I'd start with trying meditation. 
 

Hope you're having a nice day and enjoying the sunshine! X

Yeah give it a try.  I use the Calm app,, and go the sleep section where there are meditations to listen to. its normaly gentle music or water, waves etc and you are guided by a soothing voice into focusing on your breathing and parts of your body , relaxing.  It keeps your mind away from other thoughts and normally I fall back asleep before the session reaches its end ..I use it every night now to get to sleep and when I wake up in the early hours.  There are stories  too but i dont tend to go for them.  Again its  worth a try , if it doesnt work , they are free i think , though because i use mine so much,  I paid for a yearly subscription and got lots of extras. .

Yes we went walking this morning and tackled the garden this afternoon.  

Let me know how it goes if you do manage to get through to your consultant tomorrow? 

x

Didn't manage to get through to consultant but spoke to the receptionist and she said my results are not back yet so the face to face appointment letter is a mistake. 
 

back to square 1 and just praying these results get in soon! Hope you are doing ok x 

uff!  sounds a bit like my scenario..  I was given an appointment date  the day I had my Biospsy. for 2 weeks ahead.   When that date came around and after travelling all the way to the hospital and waiting I found out there was no result back but the consultant did tell me he knew it was cancer from the MRI but he didnt know how deep and what tissue was affected which could mean surgery pathway but he assumed for now it was squamous cell carcenoma  ..  I  was told to come back in the following Tuesday because apparantly biopsy results only get dealt with one day a week, so went all the way back the next week, waited 2hrs 15 minutes to be seen and told they were not back.. it looks like they book appts assuming the results will be in .. they then said come back next Tuesday and I was like,  nope ,, hold on.. you can call me if the  results are back next Tuesday and if it is sqamous cell carcenoma then surely i dont need to come back to be told that there is no change and no deeper tissue affected, they actually agreed as they could see i was such a state after waiting from 9: 45 to 12 to be seen.  

Have they cancelled your appointment now.. ? did you ask if you could be called when the results are in?  How long have you been waiting , i assume it is two weeks as that was my first waiting period after the biopsy ? 

I wonder what they would have said to you when you arrived on Thursday ? the system is a little glitched if you ask me :(. Have you had anyone talk about your MRI etc? 

x

Gosh that sounds stressful! They really do need to work on the system being better as stress for no reason when you're in this situation is really not good. Did you get asked in for a phone appointment or a face to face appointment originally? 

They have told me it will be a phone appointment on Thursday which will be 2 weeks after the biopsy. No one's spoken to me about my mri results no. I think I will call again tomorrow and Wednesday to keep checking x
 

I would have been so upset on Thursday if i had gone in to say there were no results back. 

No, it didnt seem that a phone call option was possible.  I dont know if that was specific to me because they had seen the MRI and knew it was cancer ..  it seemed they just wanted me to keep attending every Tuesday for the final outcome .. once I reminded them that I was  already aware it was cancer via first appt and the consultant referring to the MRI image only,  they accepted  a phone call could be given if the cancer stayed as they assumed from the MRI as to be honest i was refusing to go in a third time and take that risk .

At my hospital , pathalogy results are only discussed early on Tuesday and my constulant is only at my hospital on Tuesdays too so if the result was not back on that Tuesday , there was an automatic wait to the following Tuesday, my biopsy result took 5 weeks in the end .. 

The fact you have a telephone call is promising as they surely wouldnt give bad news over the phone 

x

No, it didnt seem that a phone call option was possible.  I dont know if that was specific to me because they had seen the MRI and knew it was cancer ..  it seemed they just wanted me to keep attending every Tuesday for the final outcome .. once I reminded them that I was  already aware it was cancer via first appt and the consultant referring to the MRI image only,  they accepted  a phone call could be given if the cancer stayed as they assumed from the MRI as to be honest i was refusing to go in a third time and take that risk .

At my hospital , pathalogy results are only discussed early on Tuesday and my constulant is only at my hospital on Tuesdays too so if the result was not back on that Tuesday , there was an automatic wait to the following Tuesday, my biopsy result took 5 weeks in the end .. 

The fact you have a telephone call is promising as they surely wouldnt give bad news over the phone 

x

That's the same for my hospital except it's only Thursdays the consultant is in. I've just rung again to see if they had looked at mri scan as forgot about that earlier and she said she would let me know - will ring again later. Gosh these nerves are unbearable!  X

Yes, sometimes you just have to push the limts and be a pest ... 

How is it healing for you now ? are you still struggling to eat? 

My chap made a gorgeous spaghetti bolognese lastnight , but we put the bolognese sauce in the blender as the tiny bits of mincemeat really aggrevate my biopsy area.. spaghetti is no issue as it is so slippery and slides down ..

Hope I may get to eat a Sunday dinner next week but will swap roast potatoes for mash and over cook the veg a bit . lol

X

Keep me posted .. 

So I've managed to get the consultant to ring me and he says he's looked at my mri results and there is nothing on them to suggest cancer. Just the mass behind my tonsil which has now been removed and we are awaiting the results. Such a weight lifted off of my shoulders. Will see what they come back with on Thursday. 
 

I've finished my anti biotics for my throat and it's feeling a lot better. It's still sore and hurts to swallow but managing to eat finally. The swollen ulvula is still there making me feel like I have something to swallow all the time, strange.

oh how was the tomato sauce? I've not dared have anything tomato based yet! 
I had Sunday dinner yesterday and surprisingly the roast potatoes went down better than the mash! I find the mash coats the biopsy area and makes it sting abit but if you chew the roast enough it goes down nicely! 
 

x

That is great to hear because from what I see and hear so much ,  the consultants dont sugar coat things and if they have concerns they pretty much come right out with it .. 

So, he is going to call you Thursday too? which will be amazing for you , no hospital to attend and hopefully you can have you partner there when you get the call but tbh , things look very positive,  especially if they have removed the lump in full too

I didnt really have a problem with tomatoe sauce. The skin to the area is no longer raw and open so food no longer stings or feels like glass, it is  just very very sensitive to being touched or moved too much. It is hard to explain .   So anything bulky adding pressue to that area makes it angry which i assume is because the hole is still trying its best to seal up even thought the edges are not raw and open, that was why I had such a huge worry it would never heal over.  But slowly ,it is starting to fill in but it is  just not smooth like the other side,  just a mass of lumpy scarr tissue  ..   the worst thing , oddly is yawning, because the process of yawning stretches the skin there and if i try and surpress the yawn it is bizarrley worse .. so now I go with the yawn as the pain is better than trying not to yawn .. but dont you just hate when you cant stop yawning, well I fear it big time now lol .

x

Yeah something I have been praying for all weekend. It wasn't actually my consultant that rang it was just any they could grab I think - as I was pestering them so much lol. my consultant will ring me Thursday hopefully with some results if they have them back. 
 

ouch that sounds painful, think I've got a good mental image of it now. Great that things don't sting! Anything that goes near mine apart from water seems to make it throb. And I know the yawn feeling so well haha, and the more you think about yawning it makes you want ti yawn! In fact this is making me want to yawn now x
 

Fingers crossed for Thursday for you,,, do you have a set time for your call?. Will it clash with my PET scan , I am due in at 9:30 and told I will be there for approx 2hrs .. your day will distract me at least .. 

I am not looking forward to PET scan , the thought of have radioactive substance put in me  and then having to lay down for an hour whilst it works around me.. my chap cant stay with me because of the nature of the substance and I will prob have another anxiety moment .   

That said, I do have two treatmnets of chemo looming too , pretty much the same scenario but subtance entering in for around 8hrs  .. and I was talking to a lady also just disgnosed with soft palate cancer and having the same treatment,  she was so worried her hair was going to fall out and I must admit I thought all chemo did this too but apparantly the type we have does not cause hair loss.  So , I have had an appt at the hairdressers booked  in for months and it is on the 21st April and now I know my hair isnt going to fall out I am going to go head and get it done before I start my treatment ..  it is weird how things play on your mind though as a few nights later I woke from a dream that I was sat in the Hairdressers having my chemotherapy , the mind  eh lol ., 

Oh at least you're in first thing in the morning- get it over and done with and less time to get worked up. I read about the pet scans and they sound much better than the mri! I'm sure whatever they inject into you won't feel any different from the stuff they inject into you for the mri too. You'll have to try use some of your mindful breathing whilst you're in there and think about the Easter weekend coming up. Will message you to see how it's going. My appointment is at 2:45 on Thursday. 
 

I had a really bad panic attack when going under for the general anesthetic and then when I came round again - when I woke up I was sat up thrashing around at the nurses and shouting for the lady I met in the waiting room before I went in for the biopsy ha, so glad she wasn't around or would have been embarrassing.

I read a blog of a man who went through the same treatment including 2 rounds of chemo and 30 rt sessions. Was a good read and helped to give you an idea of what to expect. Think he was called Gary? Have you seen it? X 

oh , haha ! thats quite funny ! I was actually so calm when I came round from aneasthetic , it was like I was in a trance.  I was just sat watching all the other people. also coming out and how different everyone was .. (people watching ) . .a lady next to me  was asked by her nurse , scale of 10 how bad is the pain ,and she just kept screaming 10 10 10 and groaning so loudly .. , I didnt have much pain ,and my nurse was scaling mine out of 3, think I gave it a 1.5 but she was busy monitoring me and making notes and she kept coming up to me and telling me to breath , me telling her  'oh I am ' but she was like , no please,  you need to take big big deep breaths lol .. I think maybe my oxygen levels were low and my breathing too shallow, but I felt oddly calm  compared to how I was being wheeled into that theatre, then my heart was nearly beating out of my chest ..  but three times she came back and told me to breath lol ..   a guy over from me was sat telling jokes to his attending nurse , non stop jokes. he wouldnt shut up .. haha 

Yes, i am taking my headphones so I can meditate  when I am there lol  ..  I  love reading but find it so hard to say focused.. I end up reading many chapters and not recalling any of what I have read and have to back track again . 

I have read a few blogs on treatment for throat cancer  , some are horrifying,  some much more reassuring , it seems we all cope and react differently to the treatment, but I will see if I can find Gary's too .. 

x

Haha that's funny, I'd have been the lady screaming 10! bet it's entertaining being a recovery nurse in that area. Will see some things for sure! Had you been under general before or was it your first time? 
 

I thought Gary's was good, really informative and reassuring. Will send a link if I can find it! I'm trying spag Bol for tea tonight after your influence! Fingers crossed it doesn't burn ha! X

Fingers crossed for you -  we are having chilli con carne tonight but all going into blender again , apart from the rice

Yes funny story - i had my appendix out 20 years ago and I was always one who thought I would be one of those  allergic to anaesthesia  and would not wake up .  So , I was even worse back then but in so much pain I needed it to be over .  But when I was in pre op waiting for my biospyy my aneasthestist came by to chat - she said to me , "now you have had previous operation" , I said yes , I had , she said I know because i was your anaesthetist then and she said she had just fully qualified back then and I was one of her frist patients lol ! She said , "dont worry I have got better since" lol ...she said she had been away for many years and come back to this hospital and was so shocked to see her name and signature on my medical records lol 

Was this your first general anaesthetic?