I JUST HAD SURGERY BOT CANCER AND RADICAL NECK SURGERY
ALL MARGINS WERE CLEAR AND THE DOC STATED HE GOT IT ALL
I SEE YOU ARE NOT GOING THRU WITH RAD AND CHEMO i AM HAVING A TOUGH TIME AS TO WHY I HAVE TO HAVE RAD AND CHEMO WHEN I ACCEPTED SURGERY AS THE WAY TO GET RID OF THE CANCER
WHAT WAS YOUR TREATMENTS RATIONAL TO NOT DOING RAD AND CHEMO

Eddie, welcome to OCF. Im not sure who you are directing your post to, but hundreds of members will see it. Also, caps are not necessary to get your post noticed.

Here is a link that explains treatments, it has other links which gives more info. There are many variables on why one patient needs radiation and the next one doesnt. Its not always easy to compare 2 patients. The patients may seem similar but every person is an individual and so many small things play a role in determining what will be enough to get rid of all the cancer. A second opinion is always a very good idea so the patient doesnt have second guesses. Even with clear margins, the tumor size and location may make radiation necessary. It may be best to ask your physician what factors they considered when making your treatment plan.

Main OCF Treatment pages

Eddie, I think you may have been asking me, so here's the scoop.

I had the surgery and fully expected to do chemo and rads starting around the beginning of December.

When I got the pathology results, my margins were clear, and despite the PET showing positive in the nodes, all the nodes came back negative for cancer.

I met with my surgeon, a separate ENT and my RO to discuss the next step, as I was advised I had the option of whether or not to do radiation as a result of the pathology results. In my favour was the pathology result. The negative is that there was some peri-neural involvement, and of course the high rate of recurrence for this type of cancer.

Because they do not ever plan a 2nd round of radiation, I decided that rather than doing it now and hoping to reduce a risk that is unknown, I would wait and if it recurred do the radiation at that time.

This was after canvassing 3 opinions of the experts regarding risks, and was not undertaken lightly.

Let me know if you have other questions.

Eddie,

Having had a reccurane I always advocate for hiting this with all they can throw at it the first time out. Then again thats my personal opinion.

Already having had your surgery, I don't think time is a problem for you here in making your decision. The one thing I can tell you is that I never made a major decision regarding my treatment without having at least one second opinion and in one case as many as 4. Information is your best friend when confronted by decisions of this magnatude. I would suggest you seek out the best Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC) in your area and have them give you their opinion.

Whatever your final decision is, you will feel much more comfortable with it after getting all the advice you can from the best medical teams available. I have been treated three times now but have never regreted the decisions I made along the way. I knew I was as well informed as I possibly could be before moving forward at any stage.