Tonsil Cancer - Whirlwind Week

Hi All 

Firstly Hats Off to the NHS in Wales, they have been super amazing since my diagnosis on New Years Eve. Thank you all 

The title of the post is Whirlwind Week and this is why:

New Years Eve I have a phone call from ENT confirming tonsil cancer.  Very apologetic confirmed over the phone.  Wants me in for a biopsy.   Later the same day I get calls from ward team and covid test centre booking appointments.

Monday 4th January i have a covid test at 9.30am. Results back same day, negative for Covid19.  On route to test centre call from pre assessment team asking me to go in straight after my covid test for my biopsy pre assessment.   Forgot to mention biopsy booked for 7th January. 

Tuesday 5th January have an ultrasound at 9.30am and an MRI ar 11.00am.  The ultrasound was an external ultrasound of my neck. They decided to take two needle biopsies of lymph nodes which took some doing as the nodes were so solid they couldn't get needle in... Thank goodness for local anesthetic :)

From ultrasound they decided to send me for a 3d scan of my jaw.  This was done primarily in case I need any teeth removed pre radiotherapy treatment.  Apparently radiotherapy can cause your back teeth to crumble.  Don't panic not everyone has this done.  i believe it totally depends on size, position of tumour and the amount of radiotherapy you need.

After the jaw scan I went straight for my MRI.  Think I  had two 10 minute sessions,  the second 10 with dye injected into my blood.  I had also had this done for a CT scan on 18th December.

Wednesday 6th January day off.  Which I used to eat as many nice things as possible :)

Thursday 7th January 07.30am its minus 4 degrees c and I'm back at the hospital with my overnight bag ready for another biopsy, I was told to expect to be in hospital overnight.  Due to covid we have to wait at the entrance.  Just 3 of us, asked lots of covid related questions and temperature checked before being escorted to the clean ward.

The ENT surgeon comes to see me to explain the procedure.  Remember everyone is different.   So for me they are going to remove the good tonsil and send it for tests.  What? Not the bad tonsil?  The reason for this is because when you have cancer in one tonsil it is pretty much a done deal that you will get itin the other.   Also by leaving the cancerous tonsil in it allows for more treatment options.  If they cut it out there will only be one treatment path.

During the tonsillectomy they also took biopsies of my bad tonsil and my tongue.   After the op ENT told me that it would take about 7 days for the results so they expect to be calling my Wife and I in a week on Wednesday. 

I was allowed to go home as long as I had eaten something, drunk something and had a pee.  I was home by 7pm the same day.

Sunday 10th January its 6am and I am sat in bed writing this post.  Next to me is a glass of water which I sip all night, my 6am pills and a lip balm.  My bottom lip took a battering during surgery and is very swollen and sore.   The cancerous side of my throat and shoulder is still painful and the right side is even more painful from the tonsillectomy.  Even my lymph nodes seem to be complaining  :)

But you know what, I don't feel sorry for myself,  I don't feel sad.  I'm going to lose weight, but hey I'm 5ft 6inch and 13 and a half stone (male) i could do with shedding a few pounds ;) 

I know this is just the start of a long hard journey,  but I'm ready... bring it on I say!

  • Morning

    Rasputin sounds adorable Elona, Gary has a cat hes called Softlad he was a stray I had been feeding at mine and we couldn't find his owners so Gary adopted him, he's very friendly and very vocal I didnt know cats could meow so much lol he's quite a character, a bit more action on the bird table a couple of jackdaws were monopolizing it yesterday as the wood pigeon looked on with disgust from the roof of the shed but they didn't stay long and normal activity resumed and the wrens came back but no sign of my robin. Hope you had a lovely day with your friends Al and the weather stayed nice yesterday for you, the weather was nice here so after we had a drive up to witchurch and through all the lovely villages we went to Garys he lit the fire pit and made a scrummy dinner and we sat in the garden for rest of day which I thoroughly enjoyed, off to see my mum and dad today he's not been very well hes 81 and was in hospital before Xmas and is very frail, going with Gary and my daughter Emma so another nice day planned, Elona I will look out for that film is it the one with Eddie Murphy in ? I've been stocking up on dvds and will put a tv in my room with DVD player for days I feel rough during treatment

    Hope you have a lovely day 

    Allison x

  • morning, 

    apologise if writing gets a bit dyslexic looking but have woken up feeling really dizzy got up at 4am with the world spinning so much quite scary and is still abit yuck. Bed day me thinks lol. Ecuse not to do anything anyway. 

    Love Softlad what a wonderful name and how original. Cats are my first love i ahve always had them i currently have six and they have theor own individual characters. Rum Tum Tugger has just jumped of my lap he is one of my bengal cats and named after tS elliott cherico cats. full of mischief and amazing. the three of them were picked up from kids that werere throwing them at brick walls so Rolo Lee Haggis and Rumpleteazer had to loose both of their eyes and Rolo has lost some of his orbital bione but boy he does not behave like a blind boy he jumpos at you and is really brave. the problem is he does not sit on your lap but trys to sit on youjr face!!!!

    your bird table Alli sounds fantastic mine has been quiet recentlhy or perhaps have not been looking at right time. 

    AL hope your ok and not been over doing things?

    phone call with doctors a disaster yesterday so came of feeling sad. Apparentoy the biopsies shoould have been stained to identify the cause so i should not have had to wait for cause. the referral should have happened so doctor is going to try and chase up for me. Hace to speak to work this afterniin as doctor said cannot go back until i have had the referral. more hassle. 

    anyway sounds like Alli you are goung to have a goo dday - brilliant hope you will have a good day to Al. 

    cuddle a cat day!!

    keep smiling 

    - oh uyes Eddie Murphy.

  • Hi Elona and Alli :)

    Had a great day with our friends, seeing them again on the 22nd May.  We always meet up for Eurovision - please don't judge me :laugh:  When we lived in the same place we would go to each others houses each year, sadly couldn't do it in 2020 so will make up this year.  Don't think I will be able to drive to theirs, so they are going to be coming back to us.   I was so tired yesterday, slept through most of it.  Found out today that my iron levels are low, so that's not helping with the fatigue.

    We loved Coming to America, so will definitley give number 2 ago.  Another film worth watching (Netflix this one) is Love and Monsters, it's very silly but very well made.

    Elona you tell me to take it easy, but reading your posts I think one needs to take a leaf out of ones own book lol.  So sorry to learn that doc didn't go well, more waiting :(  The NHS are either brilliant or rubbish, there seems to be no inbetween.  I hope that you manage to sort out your dizzy spell, finger crossed it was a one off.

    Alli it's a good idea to get a stock of films etc.  You'll be glad of them over the coming weeks, though if you end up being anything like me you'll end up sleeping through half of them :)  A few posts back you mentioned not feeling ill, that's the thing with this pre treatment, you feel great some days, like there is nothing wrong, almost to the point of feeling guilty.  Enjoy it is my advice to you.  I also forgot yo mention that after you have your mask fitting you go for a pre radio appointment where they set up the machine, when I had mine they also gave me a tiny tattoo on my chest.  They use this to help correctly line up the machine each time.

    One of my favourite cats that we had was a stray that adopted us, Stumpy was his name.  We called him stumpy as he had a silly stumpy tail.  He was the most lovable cat with a huge permanent smile.  Sadly he passed with an unknown illness.  They tested him for everything, but to no avail.  We now have two cats Twonky and Bubble, two dogs Eggie and Spoonie and 5 birds Popty & Ping (Lovebirds), Cheesecake (Cockatiel), Monet and Da Vinci (Budgies).   The wife says no more pets lol.

    Another beautiful day here in the valleys, apparently we are in for a week of it :)  I hope that the sun is shinning with you both too.

    Stay Strong.

    Al x

     

     

     

  • Hi

    That's not good Elona hope your feeling better, what will happen now about your treatment hope they sort things out soon it's making you really poorly, I can't believe how cruel people can be to hurt animals like that unfortunately in your job you probably see a lot of it. Finally got phone appt with oncologist its tomorrow 10.30 so will know what's ahead with a bit of luck, had a lovely day at mums and the weather was glorious so we sat outside for hours my eldest daughter came as well who I hadn't seen for months,and have just spent a lovely couple of  hours chatting to my friend in the garden so think I have well and truly topped up my vitamin d. Hope your ok Al and you had a lovely day Sunday 

    Have a lovely day

    Alli x

  • Hi Al 

    Glad your ok I'm a message behind again story of my life lol, my son has helped my navigate this a bit but I'm still rubbish but have managed to send friend requests, it sounds like you had a lovely day with your friends and as things get back to normal you can have lots more, that sounds like a lot of pets and the names are fab I may be wrong but someone told me once that poptyping was Welsh for microwave I think they were kidding, I don't have any pets now we had a cat misty that was my mum's, she got depressed when mum got another cat so we took her she was lovely but she started getting nose bleeds and couldnt breath properly  and vets couldn't figure out what was wrong she got really poorly and had to be put to sleep she was 13, my daughter has just got 2 guinea pigs called Ben and Jerry and there so cute

    Alli x

  • Popty Ping is indeed a Welsh word for Microwave :laugh:  

  • Haha I thought they were pulling my leg, I think i will use that name from now on its so much better than microwave 

    Alli x

  • lol I love that name too!!!!!

  • morning 

    bit dull this morning but not too bad. 

    hahaha to eurovision!!! the hubby as a true rocker and metal head absolutely detests the veurovision, howver, there was a take off on you tube last year that was absolutely brilliant. i find the original amusing at times but the scoring too long drawn out. i dont think though i have actually watched one all the way through! 

    Al will look out for that film. thanks. told hubby name of microwave and he thought it was brilliant!

    hubby is having second covid jab friday - we are hoping they will be able to do mine too. At least that will be oned thing done then. 

    Alli good luck with the mdt phone call. 

    bit disappointed with some of my plug plants but then surpose thats always the risk you get with offers. the plugs were so tiny the journey did not help so think will loose half of them. some of the geraniums ding well, so keep hoping. have now got 5 butternut squash plants so really pleased. they obviously just needed a good tallking too!

    Al love your pets names and Alli your girls guinea pigs! 

    i have two hens celeste and cecilly who live with sir reggie perrin. five koi carp two originals were named susies spirit and sharras soul. 6 cats rum tum tugger, rolo lee haggis, rumpleteazer, rodney, stanzia, rasputin, 2 dogs pedro and shugs and an african grey socrates. most have come from work lol never work at a vetslol. like Al we have to say no more at moment cannot go back to ten cats like we were two years ago!!! they all have amazing stories but are all wonderfully affectionate. thesevare my family!

    having another restfukl day, hope you all have a good day

    enjoy your days keep smiling

    x

     

  • Hello

    Sun is struggling to come out and a bit cooler today here, will have to stay out of Sun today as my face got a bit burnt after sitting out yesterday kept thinking I was having a hot flush till I looked in mirror lol. Hope you are feeling better today Elona you and Al are so lovely to take care of so many pets I love all the names you have for them. Had my phone appt off the oncologist and he explained I would have 30 sessions of radiation over 6wks you were right Al and 2 sessions of chemo, he said they do either 2 big doses or 6 smaller ones so they have gone with the 2 doses for me, I will be going in the next week or so for scan and mask fitting and to see dentist I think all in one day, he mentioned about feeding tube and said I might be better getting it fitted in the beginning did they discuss that with you Al ?  he also said that I have a 70 to 80 percent chance of beating it so feeling very positive. 

    Just filled the bird table with goodies so will sit with cuppa and wait for feathered visitors 

    Have a great day

    All I x