Hi everyone. My follow-up treatment started today with no surprises. So on the chemo I'm one down and six to go, and on rads 1 and 32. It feels great to have this part of the journey started.

The folks doing the chemo are great, just like all of the other ENT and oncology staff I've met here at the U of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center. We feel really lucky to be a 20 minute drive from that place. The chemo staff are taking the nausea issue really seriously. Prior to the Cisplatin today they gave me aprepitant (EMEND), dexamethasone (DECADRON) and ondansetron (ZOFRON), and sent me home with prescriptions of aprepitant, ondansetron and prochlorperazine (COMPAZINE). This is all very comforting. I take the aprepitan on chemo day and the following 2 days, and the others as needed. I am hoping that the ondansetron works for me because the prochlorperazine is said to cause drowsiness, which might prevent me from driving myself on chemo days. Hopefully if I need it a night-time dose will be all.

The IMRT folks doing my treatments are the same ones that made the mask. They also made me a mouthpiece to sheild my left-side (opposite of tumor) teeth from radiation. Those have more fillings that the right hand side. They are using a Tomotherapy Accuray machine for the radiation. That's kind of nice because Tomotherapy is a local-area company. Years ago I had a intern programmer working for me who eventually found a job as a product programmer at Tomotherapy. So there is an attractive symmetry to that. As to the treatment itself, not bad. The mask fit a little too tight over my adam's apple so they'll adjust that tomorrow. But I can't say I had any kind of serious claustrophobia, and am sure I can get through these treatments with no worries about that.

Tomorrow is an 8:15AM radiotherapy, followed by a 9AM check-in for PEG insertion, overnight stay, noon discharge on Friday, followed by radiotherapy. So by Saturday I'll be fully underway in this part of the treatment. Many thanks to everyone who posted of their experiences. This let me know ahead of time what to expect and which questions to ask. Can't thank you enough, really. I'll try to post the PEG experience too in case anyone else can learn from what I'm going through.

Peter, age 62 at Dx
3/27/15 Dx T2N2aM0 Tonsilar P16+ G3 SCC
4/6/15 Full PET clear except for above
4/24/15 TOLM tonsillectomy/clear margins. Neck dissection 20 nodes (1 w/cancer & extracapsular extension)
5/28/15 PEG in
5/27 - 7/10/15 Daily Radiation to 66 units cumulative; Cisplatin weekly X 7
8/24/15 PEG out
9/24/15 Full body PET - N.E.D.
12/22/15 CT and physical exam. Continued clear.
3/11/16 Physical exam. Continued clear.
7/12/16 One year post-treatment! CT clear.
7/7/17 2 years post - still clear