My husband has stage 4 tonsillar cancer with lymph node involvement and very advanced.
He has had 8 rounds of chemo along with radiation. Fortunately he did not end up needing the PEG tube, he has been able to continue eating and drinking on his own, although his weight is not at just 100 pounds he is doing well, no severe effects from the chemo, mostly constipation and mild nausea.
Radiation treatments were very aggressive. The first 2 weeks he had just one treatment a day, 5 days a week. Then during week 3 he had one a day Mon to Weds and Thursdays and Fridays two treaments (one morning, one afternoon). Then a week later they started him on 2 a day 5 days a week. They are continuing that to current.
The tumor has definately gone down, you can tell that from the outside alone. He was only able to open his mouth an inch or so and now can even bite into a sandwich. Eating is mechanical at this point but he is doing it. His speach is still severly affected.
He has an appointment with the Doc's this Friday, during the planning for his new radiation mask they "found" something and want to discuss it with us. The oncologist thinks this is his last chemo treatment but that was prior to the radioncologist's discussion.
Had anyone else gone through this aggressive treatment before and if so how long did it take to recover? The oncologist said that 95% of his patients could not do this treatment that he has put him through and that none he has had go through it were off a peg.