CancerCompass message board discussion started by Julieg77 on 2/1/2006 http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,4339,0.htm Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://backend.userland.com/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ My father is 60 and was diagnosed with Stage 4 sqaumous cell carcenoma in his base of tongue, tonsil area and lymph nodes. He was getting radiation and chemo treatments at Iowa City and just finished. He actually went through double radiation treatments during the last several weeks of his treatments. He felt ok during the treatments but has felt worse since they ended a few weeks ago. He has vertigo and his balance is off. Has anyone experience that or know what might be causing it? Doctors do not know. Also, how soon do you think he'll start to feel better post treatments? Does anyone know what to expect. Please help if you can, i'd love to be able to give my mom a better timeline of what to expect. Julie Julieg77 Wed, 01 Feb 2006 00:00:00 GMT Hello, I had the same type of cancer only stage three. I di not have the same trouble as your Dad is having.Some of the medications maybe causeing this. Write down what he is taking, how many MG's of each and how oftern he is taking it.He will feel better after he is done with the treatments, but since we are all differant, a time line is very hard to guess at. If that continues. take him to an Ear, nose and th Dr. ENT. May be coming from his ears. I went deaf in one ear, and the ENT Dr. found a lot of dry skin from the radiation and wax had hardening in that ear. She removed it and I was fine. Hope this helps. Mildred Mildred D. Fri, 03 Feb 2006 00:00:00 GMT I experienced minimal side effects WITH radiation or Temador. However as time passed fatigue and balance issues arose. Ive learned to compensate for both. BE CAREFUL with fatigue and not become too inactive (I ended up wth DVT (blood clot groin to L knee. Mrmarmot Sat, 04 Feb 2006 00:00:00 GMT Thank you so much for the feedback, it really helps a lot since I live several hours away from my parents and are not able to go to the doctor appointments and ask questions, etc. They did remove some wax build up and did a hearing test, he is 20% deaf in one ear and still having balance issues. I have a few other questions if anyone might be able to help... During the 3 month wait until the PET scan, can I expect him to feel gradually better? How long does it take to get the results of the PET scan? Are they primarily looking to see if the treatments were successful to get rid of the cancer he had before, or is there a chance of new cancer developing while on the treatments? Any info anyone has will be very helpful. Thank you so much! Julie Julieg77 Sun, 05 Feb 2006 00:00:00 GMT He is actually not taking any medications. He has pain pills but often refuses to take them - he is very stubborn! Julieg77 Mon, 06 Feb 2006 00:00:00 GMT They may be looking to see if they got all the cancer. The techs that do the Pet scans know the results that day. Unfortunately they won't discuss them with you. I had them done. I was there for three hours. They look for what they call "hot spots". I had a hot spot on the bottom of my esophagus that ended up being acid reflux. So, don't be alarmed if the Dr saws there is a "hot spot". They may go down with a scope and take pictures to see. I hope your dad is well. I just finished radiation myself. Mine was in my tongue. I'm going for implant radiation next month. Mindis Sat, 18 Feb 2006 00:00:00 GMT They may be looking to see if they got all the cancer. The techs that do the Pet scans know the results that day. Unfortunately they won't discuss them with you. I had them done. I was there for three hours. They look for what they call "hot spots". I had a hot spot on the bottom of my esophagus that ended up being acid reflux. So, don't be alarmed if the Dr saws there is a "hot spot". They may go down with a scope and take pictures to see. I hope your dad is well. I just finished radiation myself. Mine was in my tongue. I'm going for implant radiation next month. Mindis Sat, 18 Feb 2006 00:00:00 GMT I completed radiation treatments the last week of Feb. after having a total glossectomy, or almost...3/4 of my tongue was removed and a flap was constructed from a section from my thigh. I have Diabetes, and was told that my side effects from radiation could come on sooner and could be worse. My blistered skin did get worse after treatments were over, but is getting better now. I now have fluid in both ears...can't hear anything. So I'll be having tubes put in both ears tomorrow. I highly recommend an ENT specialist for your dad. Changes can occur two years or more from radiation! Did he get a sheet of "EARLY" Side Effects and "LATE" side effects of radiation? I did, but it was not explained to me when the "LATE side effects would occur. I thought it meant "later in the treatments". In fact, the Late side effects occur after Radiation is completed. They can take months to years to develop and are often permanent. I will put your dad and fanily on my prayer list. Hope you will let me know how things are progressing! Many Blessings. It was October when I signed up to this site... I think my screen name was "Gardening Angel"...will sign off as Anita! Gardening Anita Mon, 10 Apr 2006 00:00:00 GMT Anita, thank you for your message. OFten times I feel out of the loop, and these message boards help me to get a better understanding of what my dad is going through so i can support him. You will also be in my thoughts and prayers. thank you - Julie Julieg77 Tue, 11 Apr 2006 00:00:00 GMT  On 4/10/2006 Gardening Anita wrote:I completed radiation treatments the last week of Feb. after having a total glossectomy, or almost...3/4 of my tongue was removed and a flap was constructed from a section from my thigh. I have Diabetes, and was told that my side effects from radiation could come on sooner and could be worse. My blistered skin did get worse after treatments were over, but is getting better now. I now have fluid in both ears...can't hear anything. So I'll be having tubes put in both ears tomorrow. I highly recommend an ENT specialist for your dad. Changes can occur two years or more from radiation! Did he get a sheet of "EARLY" Side Effects and "LATE" side effects of radiation? I did, but it was not explained to me when the "LATE side effects would occur. I thought it meant "later in the treatments". In fact, the Late side effects occur after Radiation is completed. They can take months to years to develop and are often permanent. I will put your dad and fanily on my prayer list. Hope you will let me know how things are progressing! Many Blessings. It was October when I signed up to this site... I think my screen name was "Gardening Angel"...will sign off as Anita!my husband completed radiation treatments 7 weeks ago. he is in horrible shape. Lots of pain in his mouth. he felt pretty could until the radiaiton was over. could you tell me the "late" side effects?  He still can't eat, just drinks boast, and has lost about 60 pounds during all this. he is depressed, down on himself, and just plain miserable. we are going to our family doctor to see about antidepressants. how long will this last? any advice you can offer will be a great help.monica monica c. Sat, 12 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT monicai am 8 weeks out from SCC of the Rt tonsil stage 3Rx and cysplatain finally starting to feel better not sure if it is just the antidepressants  I am on Lexapro and it seems to be helping But it has been a long 8 weeks of recovery I must sayone thing that really helped me was to get as good of stuff down my Peg as possible and that meant a lot of "Green Things" all the high protein and high vegetable content I could findAlso I went heavy on my supplements for the immune system and  and healingI also drank as much as I could slippery elm tea and good raw honey really helped heal my throat.john  mtkjohn1 Sat, 12 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT thank you for your reply. i just talked with my husband (john) and he will be getting on here himself. I know this forum will be of great support to him. god bless,monica c. monica c. Sat, 12 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT I remember when my sister Grace was going thru all her kemo and raiation pardon the spelling. They put her on some meds for dizziness and meds to keeps her from vomiting. My dad always took the pain pills. It made me a little nervous at times but he had to take it to keep himself together. I'm glad I found this site. I have been trying to hold my mom together it's very tough on her between losing both my sister and my dad last year was extremly tough. I make sure I call her everyday. If I knew everyone names here I will put you on the prayer list at church. I'm from Texas. I would keep a close eye out if it has anything to do with their head make sure the doctor does a scan a complete scan. You from head to toe. I know my sister Grace would always keep a positive attitude so did my dad. I know the first week after he got his bladder removed he tried to get out there and mow the grass but my son and I saw him and my mom out there and we drove over there and from the day on he was never able to mow the grass again. It took so much out of him. My dad was always the type of man a very I'll do it myself and he didn't like the thought of someone or us doing so much for him. I'm that way to if i'm able to just let me do it. But dad was to weak. So my son like a good grandson would jumps in and mows the grass for him. You know I have a friend her name is Stella and she goes to this place that sorry I don't want to Gross anyone out but this is what she told me. This place she goes to she said that you can get yourself cleansed out. And I remember her telling me this that there was a lady that had cancer she had gone in there and she had gotten herself cleaned out. Well do you in doing that she said this lady didn't have any more problems with the cancer. I gave my sister Grace that Business card and she never went and I had also told my dad about it and neither one of them listened to me. You cause when you get that done it takes out all the toxins with in your whole body. I mean it cleans out the intestines again pardon the spelling it cleanse out any stuff from your sinus cavities, cleans out your colon etc. If I had $60.00 I would go but I don't have the money. I'm in the process of looking for a job. I will be sure and come back to this site. I will also say prayers for everyone here and their families. My email is paulahigh@hotmail.com I also use MSN messenger it's under my name you see on here. I hope each and everyone of you take care of yourself and your families. I know now myself I have to make sure I o every year for a yearly physical and mammogram ever year from now on. You there is something that really bothers me. These insurance companies are some what worthless to pay. I had a mammogram done on 3-6-08 and do you know we pay these peple insurance plus it's in my family history and the insurance company denied it. I'm calling the insurance company again and I'm going to tell them they need to pay it. I sure don't understand it. These insurance companies how they tell the doctors what they can or can't do. Anyway I'm sorry everyone. I'm sure a lot of people go thru a lot more than that that is for sure. I remember one time I think some where they had told my sister that she had to pay $700.00 for something. It's long time but I just remembered that. My mouth just dropped. Thank goodness my mom was there mom paid for it. I had better get going. It's allready 12am and I have to get up early for church. You will think it's kind of neat the name of our church is called the Cowboy church. It's out in wise county, in dectator Texas. I will come back by tomorrow and say hi to everyone. You all take care bye for now Paula PaulaH36 Sun, 13 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT