Hello all;
I was diagnosed with HNSCC on May 15th. Had robo surgery at a leading med center on the West Coast on 6/17. The removal of the cancer(s) included my right tonsil, 21 or so lymph nodes on the rt side of my neck, a portion of the base of my tongue on the right side, numerous small lesions and a large lesion that is effectively the width and length of an upright can of span sliced to a thickness of approx 0.6 inches. All the margins came back clear; however, one the primary cancerous lymph node exhibited an extracapsular extension, which, according to the Rad and Chem Oncologists requires chemo in addition to rad treatment to the right side of my neck and throat. They state that cisplatin is the gold standard but I find the 10 - 29% occurrence of side effects too big re: potentially life limiting for my purposes. I pushed them to utilize cetuximab (
Erbitux) instead in conjuction with Rad Therapy. They were reluctant but ultimately agreed. I begin RT/CT in two weeks. Do any of you folks have experience with RT & Cetuximab following surgery. If so, what are your thoughts for this approach to therapy?
