My Husband Was Just Diagnosed With Squamous Cell Carcinoma Of The Head And Neck Stage 4

On May 02, 2014 5:30 AM cherub_babe wrote:

HI I am so sorry to hear, My hubby as well was diagnosed with the same, stage 4  ithis feb2014, and we just finished up 35 radiation treamnets, and 2 chemo treamnets and  the doctors are  very confident, in their treaments, not only that we  just had to  have a peg tube, put in due to not  be able to  eat  nor drink, and the surgeon, who knocked him out to  go down his throat and  out thru his belly, said trust me theres is no cancer  living in there, from what  seen with  the scope going down, everything is burned up in his throat,  sorry to say but looks like raw hamburgh now, so i would def get another  opinion, cuz stage  4 in head and neck cancer is way different than others, and if it has spread to lymp nodes nor blood stream yet  then why are they so afraid, you need to find a good cancer treament, their are many and so wonderful, and  hopeful, as they have been beat this bad disease alot more easier than before, I wish you the best, if you  ever need to talk feel free :) Darlene

     Aloha Cherub, Sorry to hear about your husband. I was also a stage 4 of my tonsils in Jan. 2009. I had surgery and radiation but no chemo and they took 14 lympnods out also. I am now over 5 years cancer free and my ent says things look good. What I would be concerned about is the throat looking like raw hamburger. Has he had any surgery yet? The radiation will keep doing damage to the throat. My throat started closing up at about 1 1/2 -2 years and my gastroligist helped fix it but then my thyroid gland started going bad and I am on meds for that. I July of 2014 I got pnuemonia and they did a Barium swallowing test and I was aspitarting very bad and was told I needed to have another feeding tube put in ( the original one was in for 5 months before removing it ). Did they take his teeth out before radiation treatments because they took mine and had to run my food thru a blender in order to eat. I let them put another feeding tube in and I have gained almost 40 pounds and feel a lot better. I hope your husband doesn't have to go through the same thing but it does happen and I have yet to have anyone reply that they had to have another fedding tube put in. As soon as he can swallow get him on a good quality drinkable Aloe Vera and have him gargle and swallow it 4-5 times a day. I did it before my radiation treatments and it saved my taste buds and saliva glands but I wish I had kept doing it longer since it might have saved my throat from the aspiration and the second feeding tube. Good Luck and I hope your husband lives for many more years, you don't sy how old he is. Aloha,Wildog 

Hi Wildog, Thank you for writing, my hubby is 48 yrs old, and had a lump on the side of his  neck checked and thru testing found a tiny spot on the base of his tongue, Head/neck cancer, which doctors said they could get rid of it no problem,  with no surgeries ,but  yes when they put the feeding tube in last week the surgeon said his throat is so burned up, he completed 4 more days of radiation, which ended 4-28, he lost his  voice to only a whisper  as of now, and yes I'm afraid to ALSO  think of long term side effects as well, but for now taking one day at a time Lord Willing

I'm so sorry to hear of your ordeal, and so many others on here as I'm new to this site, but I appreciate your tips and will def. put them to use, as of now he chokes while even brushing his teeth {His own} and using the oral rinses and  the mouth guard right now though he can't  use  with out gagging then vomitting,

So all we can do  is pray formost, and  me keep researching :) and trying to learn as much as possible with angels on  this site including yourself, thank you so much and Lord bless and heal you ....as he can :)

 

On May 03, 2014 4:34 AM cherub_babe wrote:

Hi Wildog, Thank you for writing, my hubby is 48 yrs old, and had a lump on the side of his  neck checked and thru testing found a tiny spot on the base of his tongue, Head/neck cancer, which doctors said they could get rid of it no problem,  with no surgeries ,but  yes when they put the feeding tube in last week the surgeon said his throat is so burned up, he completed 4 more days of radiation, which ended 4-28, he lost his  voice to only a whisper  as of now, and yes I'm afraid to ALSO  think of long term side effects as well, but for now taking one day at a time Lord Willing

I'm so sorry to hear of your ordeal, and so many others on here as I'm new to this site, but I appreciate your tips and will def. put them to use, as of now he chokes while even brushing his teeth {His own} and using the oral rinses and  the mouth guard right now though he can't  use  with out gagging then vomitting,

So all we can do  is pray formost, and  me keep researching :) and trying to learn as much as possible with angels on  this site including yourself, thank you so much and Lord bless and heal you ....as he can :)

 

     Drinkable Aloe Vera is also good for the digestive system and may help with the throwing up problem, I have never felt nausous after swalowing it. I hope it helps. Aloha,Wildog

On May 02, 2014 3:53 PM Sdurnell wrote:

Wow, it was your good fortune to find such a wonderful buyer! Maybe that's why you hung on for six years, just so this opportunity could present itself.  I know it was an emotional time, but probably also brought back some great memories as well.  It's good to reexamine the past once in a while, as it was how we get to where we are now, and helps us understand our present situations.

I hope you have time to relax a bit and focus on yourself for a little while.  

All the best,

Susan

Susan - I truly believe the entire sale was an answer to prayer - not mine but Mike's. I never knew the complete story until the other day. Of course I knew that his parents had bought the acreage over 40 years ago but didn't know that before that they had purchased a motel. The previous owner had not paid the taxes in a long time and back then no title searches were done. The first they knew of it was when the government froze all of their assets. They lost everything. His grandmother co-signed for them to purchase the property and a mobile home to put on the property. They bought an old car for $150. So he spent the first few years of his life in my mobile. Their dad put a sewer system in on the acre adjacent to mine and rented out the lot to help with expenses. They knew the couple who brought in a new mobile home on the rental lot. After a couple of years, the couple moved out of the area and sold Mike's parents their mobile. Mike and his family moved to the newer mobile and rented out mine. Later Mike's father started building a house on the remaining half of the property (the two mobiles share the other half). At that time, the city forced him to divide up the property creating 3 taxable properties. He couldn't afford the taxes on 3 properties so they sold the two properties to two different people. The couple who bought ours paid cash but their son who purchased the other one bought on a contract. He ended up moving out and renting his. The tenants destroyed the mobile and it had to be demolished. Mike was engaged to our pastor's daughter then and he decided to buy a new double wide to replace the demolished one. He lives there with his wife and daughter. His mother, who is the nicest lady you could ever meet, has asked me for 19 years that if I ever sold, please give Mike the first opportunity to buy. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike bought a 10 year term insurance policy - 10 years ago. It wasn't a long time plan to sell my place, it recently came to my mind that it was time. As soon as I told Mike I was going to sell, he checked into it and found that he was 15 DAYS past the date he could cash it out without penalty - and it wouldn't have grown any more , The exact amount he got was what he offered - and what I had in mind as the selling price. A realtor told me I could get $5 ,000 more but I would have paid out well over $3,000 in broker's fees, title searches, and closing costs. For all of us here, God's fingerprints are all over this. The property that his parents worked so hard for is all together again. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What you said about looking back to understand that we are where we are today because of our past is so true! With Jack I never have to look back though because his input is all over my children and myself. My first husband couldn't accept the responsibility of five children so abandoned us shortly after I found out I was pregnant with the fifth one. I met Jack when she was a few months old. We were friends for several years and I dated others occasionally but having five children put a damper on most relationships. Then I suddenly began having seizures. My dad took me to Mayos because no local doctors could explain them. I was told I have a scar on the brain in the left temple lobe area - most likely due to getting hit in the face with a wooden swing as a young child. No explanation as to why it waited to show up 20 years later. Jack was there through it all - rushing me to the hospital many times, watching the kids whenever I needed him. We all knew how much he loved all of us but it took some convincing to get him to understand that his being 14 years older than me was no big deal. My youngest and I were talking about Jack yesterday and I told her that he would have laid down his life for her. She had tears in her eyes as she said "I know"! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I drive back to my place tomorrow and after a few days rest, I will drive up to IL to put some finishing touches on my house there before putting it on the market. I'm 67 years old and beginning to realize that I need to simplify my life so I don't leave a mess for my children when my time here is over. Diana

Hi Diana!

My thoughts and luv 'n stuff are with you! :)

Andrea xxx

May I ask what Dr. at MD Anderson he saw? We've been referred to Dr. Randall Weber over at MDA.

On Jun 12, 2013 1:28 AM Missyr70 wrote:

Hello Everyone:Just this past week my husband was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck stage 4. All the doctors are saying is,well we can give him radiation to relieve his symptoms. But we don't believe we can make this cancer go away completely and even if we could it may come back. They are not even mentioning chemotherapy or surgery. In my heart,I feel we need to get a second opinion. My husband is only 53 years old and I feel the doctors need to do everything they can to try to rid him of this.

My husband was diagnosed in December 2008 also with stage 4 squamous cell carcinoma. It has been 6 years since his treatments of 35 radiation and 3 chemo. They gave him a 20% but he is still here today, even though he has had a lot of side effects from all the radiation that he has had. He has a PEG tube for 18 months. He started out weighting 195 pounds and now weights 140. He eats a large bowl of ice cream every night but he doesn't seem to put on any weight. He has been through a lot in the pass 6 years. He is going for a biopsy next week for another lump that has come up on the other side of his neck. He said if it comes back cancer he will not do the treatments again. He has lots of foam and slurs his speech.

I would get a second opinion.

Patty

On Aug 01, 2015 4:18 AM Proxielocks wrote:

On Jun 12, 2013 1:28 AM Missyr70 wrote:

Hello Everyone:Just this past week my husband was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck stage 4. All the doctors are saying is,well we can give him radiation to relieve his symptoms. But we don't believe we can make this cancer go away completely and even if we could it may come back. They are not even mentioning chemotherapy or surgery. In my heart,I feel we need to get a second opinion. My husband is only 53 years old and I feel the doctors need to do everything they can to try to rid him of this.

My husband was diagnosed in December 2008 also with stage 4 squamous cell carcinoma. It has been 6 years since his treatments of 35 radiation and 3 chemo. They gave him a 20% but he is still here today, even though he has had a lot of side effects from all the radiation that he has had. He has a PEG tube for 18 months. He started out weighting 195 pounds and now weights 140. He eats a large bowl of ice cream every night but he doesn't seem to put on any weight. He has been through a lot in the pass 6 years. He is going for a biopsy next week for another lump that has come up on the other side of his neck. He said if it comes back cancer he will not do the treatments again. He has lots of foam and slurs his speech.

I would get a second opinion.

Patty

Aloha Proxielocks, I was also stage 4 tonsil cancer and the radiation has done a number on me. They took my teeth to protect my jaw ( unnecessary ) my thyroid gland is shot and I have been on a feeding tube for the last 2 years due to I asperate and the radiation made the left side of my neck so hard that I can barely swallow. Now I am dealing with fluid around my lungs which possibly may be a side effect from the radiation. I am also a diabetic so medicare supplies me with a supplement that contains 300 calories per contaier and I run 8 a day thru my tube. I went from 112lbs to 140lbs. You just need to get his calorie intake up and over 2400 a day. My doctor told me the other day that the AMA is starting to realize that so much radiation and chemo is doing more damage than good, ABOUT TIME. I am 5 1/2 years cancer free but all of the damage was done by the radiation. If I knew then what I know now I would have walked out of the radiation after 10 treatments and if that wasn't enough then so be it. Aloha

Hi Patty -

This blog has been ongoing since Jan 2013.  Missy70's (the original poster) husband passed away Nov 15, 2013. 

I was given a 50/50 chance of survival upon diagnosis but I am cancer free today.  I think once diagnosed we always have that "what if" in the back of our minds.  I waiver about whether I would go through treatment again but to be honest, if my life was on the line, I would endure it again.  Praying that the biopsy proves negative for your hubby. 

Diana

On my birthday (April 13) age 54. I was given the news that I have tonsil cancer and the lump on the side of my neck was due to the lymph node reacting to the cancer. The lump was the size of a 1/2 of an orange I just finished (3 weeks out ) my radiation traetments (35of them) I asl had 3 chemo treatments I was told at the diagnosis of my squamous cell cancer that I was in stage 4B to day the lump is the size of a almond, I've had oral surgery taking out all of my molars, surgery to take out my tonsil, surgery to put in a port., surgery to put in a feeding tube,and in 6 weeks when I get my pet scan to see how things are they may do surgery to remove anything left, but I was told that this is one of the hardest treatments on the human body due to where it's at ( the throat) but it's also one of the most curable cancers out there so I'm believing that I will be cured I had my first cup of pudding by mouth and I'm sitting here eating scrambled eggs for dinner. Is been very hard on me and my wife is a saint for supporting me throug this. So love on you husband and seek a doctor who can tell you that he will help you through this.