welcome to the forum that no one really wants to come to by choice, but now you are hear you are amongst people who have knowleady about head and neck cancers but more importantly ..... have survived ... and there are many of us on here with your husbands type of cancer
i myself am now 2+ years post treatment for a tong based cancer, they never found a primary, my right neck lymph node just swelled up one day
So if you have any questions ask away
perhaps you could let us know where your husband is with his treatment and what his treatment actually is
i wrote a blog all the way through my treatment, it might give you some insight into the impact of the treatment your husband is about to face
Hi there,
I'm really sorry to hear this.
My husband has also just been diagnosed with tongue cancer- he will be having an operation to have the (very large) tumour removed and then a course of radiotherapy. I feel very scared and helpless.
What treatment is your husband having? I hope it's all going well as can be.
My husband is in week three of treatments for this also...base of tongue (down throat) cancer and secondary swelling in hs neck. He's had a week of chemo and two weeks of radio so far...he will be getting another week of chemo and another 4 weeks of radio (7 weeks treatments in all). Hes ok in himself but can get very tired at the end of the week, and uses the weekends to sleep and catch up...hes also starting to feel very sore and painful inside his throat...and his saliva is thickening causing him to cough a lot to clear his throat. A bottle of water is his new best friend.
Sounds like similar treatment to my husband...we are on the third week this week (having 7 weeks in all..Radiotherapy daily every week and two weeks of chemo in between). Now finding that he is struggling to swallow food and his throat feels very raw. Paracetmol every four hours...especially before bed. Keep your window open at night to get some fresh air as nights seem to be harder and his throat drys out a lot. After chemo week hes washed out and sleeps for two days over the weekend but seems to pick up again. It appears very up and down at moment...its not just a downhill slope...so some days he feels rotten and others he feels a bit better.
The link to my blog on this post will give yu a lot of information as yur husband goes through the treatment week by week and beyond
my blog gives lots of tips some that worked for me and some that did not
It also talks about the impact of the treatment
Big tips are though
FOR HIM
1. Make sure he used water based cream all around the neck area ... E45 is good DO NOT use a lotion it has an irritant in it that will be too severe towards the end of the treatment
2. warm Chinese green tea worked for me ...water was too harsh
3. keep upi the routine of all the drugs at the right time ... its a pain they are horrible, but it works, if they are not working, then tell your medical team and they will change it
4. If your men are doing the 8 hour chemo days then when you get to the depatment try and get a bed as opposed to one of the massive chairs ... not the sort of thing to spend 8 hours in
5. after 2 weeks is taste stats to go so your guys should already be there ... everything now tastes like soggy cardboard and its easy to go off of food at this time and just rely on you PEG ... its important to keep that swallow function going though
6. I will need to advise this but once you get into week 4 the tiredness will kick in (if not already) ... just sleep
7. If your guys are anything like me I used to look forward to chemo as I would get a massive hit of steriod that kept me up for a few days then i would gradually come down and would be a right mope a day or two before my next session of chemo
FOR THOSE LOOKING AFTER A CANCER SUFFERER
1. this is as hard for you as no one is looking after you everyone concentrate of the patient
2. if you have a good friend / relative network ... use it especially for the daily trips for radiation ... I had about 6 friends that helps us through this it took the strain off my wife and gave her a bit of a break now and then.
