Hi,

I'm new to this so please forgive me if I make some mistakes because I'm not sure if I'm doing this correctly or putting this discussion in the correct place.

Is there anyone out there who has either been through this or who could give me some advice please.

I was diagnosed with cancer in my nose, nasal cavity / septum etc. last month and then had CT scans, which thankfully show that the cancer hasn't spread anywhere else.

But I'm now faced with a decision that I'm finding really difficult to make. I have been given 2 options, one is surgery to remove my nose completely and one is chemo/radiotherapy.

With the surgery I have been told it would be a prosthesis, I asked about reconstruction and have been told it's too difficult / time consuming to do as well as not giving good results. I'm also finding this very hard to come to terms with, I'm not sure I can face going down this route emotionally facing the change to my face afterwards and the wound, basically I'm not sure I'm brave enough..!!!

With the radiotherapy, I have been told they would want to do chemo first as the cancer is quite far advanced in my nose and has caused a bump on the outside, so basically it's started to 'break through' so they want to try and shrink the tumour first. I have also been told that there is a risk that I may be left with a hole in the side of my nose, where the bump is, and that if I am, some kind of prosthesis cover would have to be made for me to cover the hole.

I am supposed to go back to see them this Thursday (10th April) with a decision ?? but I also have further questions, i.e. timescale until I have a prosthesis and am able to face going outside again if I go down the operation route,  would still like to more details on why a reconstruction couldn't be done, rates of success for the chemo / radiotherapy route, do secretions still come out of where my nose used to be if I have the op., would the chemo / radiotherapy cause me side effects like sore mouth, throat or difficulty swallowing? I have talked to the McMillan nurse specialist today who can't answer these questions and has said to talk to both consultants when I go later this week. I did mention they were expecting a decision on the way forward for me as they made it clear that time is of the essence and she just said that 1 more day or so wouldn't make any difference. Which I'm sure she's correct about with the length of time it has taken me to get a diagnosis.

But I would be very grateful if anyone could offer any advice at all, I know everyone is different, but any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks very much.