 Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts)
Joined: Nov 2002 Posts: 3,552 | Hi Steve,
I have a stage III SCC in the right tonsil and they gave me the same odds of survival with rad/chemo vs. surgery. They said that the morbidity with surgery would have been higher because it would have been a 12 hour procedure and bleeding and infection would have been potential problems. And they would have given radiation anyway. I opted to go with rad/chemo and yes, it did make me sick for a while. I also opted to go with IMRT to minimize damage to healthy tissues and salivary glands. So far, so good, I have 3 treatments to go and no evidence of the tumor. These are all very tough choices to make and I recommend that you do your homework as to the different treatment options out there. You will have to be your own advocate.
Gary Allsebrook
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Dx 11/22/02, SCC, 6 x 3 cm Polypoid tumor, rt tonsil, Stage III/IVA, T3N0M0 G1/2
Tx 1/28/03 - 3/19/03, Cisplatin ct x2, IMRT, bilateral, with boost, x35(69.96Gy)
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"You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes" (James 4:14 NIV)
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