On 3/30/2007
Heyladee55 wrote:
PLEASE PLEASE respond if u have knowledge or have had your voice box removed! due to cancer! I am 60 yrs. old & the 39 radiation treatments didn't workx. I live in SC & haven't found any support groups 4 this kind of cancer. I want to find out if anybody else has been thru this & can help me to understand some things.....how do i eat, drink or talk after this voice box removal. My doctor seems eager to operate but can't tell me the stage of cancer until after he operates. I thought since the radiation didn't work maybe chemo.but Doctor said it wouldn't help. Surgery is the only answer! My health is not good, diabetis, high blood pressure & arthritis in some joints. After reading a lot of "stuff" on the internet many people (who have passed on) said if they could go back & do it again they would not agree to the surgery with stage 4 cancer! Seems like a lot of percentages with people who didn't live very long after the operation! Doctor said some lymph nodes would have to be removed but I don't know how many! I would appreciate some feed back from anyone that can address any of these issues.I have surgery scheduled the 2nd.week of April & I will admit that I fear that this is going to kill me! I am alone & don't know who I can reach out to. I can only whisper & please tell me if there r any devices to help patients like me. I would greatly appreciate any replies to this email. God Bless u all!
-----------------
lX-07osh
I can imagine how scared you are. I have stage 4 lung cancer and refused any chemo or radiation therapy. The doctor put me on Tarceva which is a chemo drug for 6 weeks and the last CT scan showed no new growth; it worked for me. If your doctor is reluctant to provide you with the information and answers you need, by all means get a 2nd opinion. They wanted me to do the surgery first also and I flat out refused; wasn;t going to have them cut out my lung or any part of it. They found out I was stage 4 via CT needle biopsy which was easy. Ask if this is an option for you. My heart goes out to you. I will be 60 in June so I know it's scary. I try to monitor the board everyday so if you need someone to talk to I'm here or you can send a private reply if you want to talk off the board. Most importantly, there were a lot of people praying for me and I know that helped. I will add you to my prayers.