Hi my name's risse my mom was diagnosed with stage 1 vocal lesion cancer. Please help me understand the illness and shed some light about what i need to look out for...

Prayers are also very much appreciated

Thanks


Ps. Can vocal lesion patients smoke?

Hi Risse,

Welcome to OCF. I am new too so have not much specifics to offer but others will have good info for you.

Since most oral cancers are discovered in advanced stages 3 and 4, I would think your Mom has a very good chance of fully beating and killing all the cancer.

As to the smoking. Smoking is BAD no matter what state of health you are in. I can only image smoking while treating throat cancer can only cause more pain and irritation than any good.

Don

Thanks for the response don. She was just diagnosed 2 months ago. She claims that she was no told by her doctor that she cant smoke so i asked. She actually had her first treatment last week. Im just very concerned of her weight loss.



How are you doing now?

Welcome to OCF, Risse! Glad you have found this site to help you and your mother.

Smoking is a huge no-no!!!! Im sure your mother avoided the whole topic since she is in denial that smoking had anything to do with her situation. Tobacco has over 50 known cancer causing chemicals added to it. All those extra chemicals are irritants and will make healing from treatments so much harder. Gosh, even after having a simple extraction done the dentist tells patients dont smoke. She needs to quit immediately!!! I am a former smoker so I know its not easy. There are tons of websites to help with quitting. I have worked with both TRUTH.com and the CDC on anti-smoking projects. Your mother does NOT want to end up looking like I do all due to a choice, smoking is a bad habit.

Nutrition plays a huge role in how easily she will get thru her treatments. Even day she needs a minimum of 2500 calories and 48 oz of water. If she is not getting that and is losing weight you need to discuss a feeding tube with her doctor. Being in another country, I dont know the protocols for this. There is the kind inserted into her stomach (PEG Tube) which is more permanent until she doesnt need it anymore. The nasal tube is more temporary, good for a few weeks. Here n the US we have things like Ensure and Boost which are liquid nourishment drinks that are high in calories. Without proper nutrition and hydration she will have a much harder time with everything.

To help your mother, I suggest reading this site. Not just the Q&A forum but also the main OCF pages. There are tons of interesting, current articles and topics to learn from there.

Stick with us and we will help you and your mother get thru this.

Best wishes!

Risse, welcome. Please read Christine's post carefully. All the advice there is great. It's hard for me to imagine anyone with an M.D. after their name not urging any patient to quit smoking, whether they have cancer or not. I know how difficult it can be, having lost someone close to me from cancer a year ago who kept smoking even after surgery to remove half a lung, and through a couple of years of chemo.

Let us know how we can help, and please keep posting.

My best thoughts to you and your mother.

Tell your mom this... No one can make her quit smoking most drs won't demand she give it up - but people who smoke through treatment have a much poorer outcome. When I was looking at the stats only 5 -10% of people who smoked during treatment were alive 5 years later. Why would she want to help her cancer? Struggling to beat this disease is hard enough without her working against herself. It also shows the drs. how far she's willing to go to fight - medical professions will do the standard treatment on all patients but human nature dictates this mentality - if I have a someone who ended up with cancer through no fault of their own, and someone with a history of smoking, who won't stop, who am I going to work harder for? no one wants to believe that drs are human and capable such judgement, but I've worked in hospitals and it happens.

Secondly - one of the best weapons against tumors is oxygen - many of our treatments use oxygen to make the tumor vulnerable - if she's smoking less oxygen will be available as the carbon monoxide produced by the smoke binds to the oxygen receptors in her blood therefore creating a hypoxic state. Most tumors love this.

The weight loss worries me. I'm sorry to say. My mom was a heavy smoker she complained a few months before her dx she was losing weight (without trying) her bum had disappeared. When I was in nursing school that was one of the first signs of cancer. The minute she said that to me cancer was the first thing that popped into my head. Usually at that point (unless she's having trouble eating) the cancer is pretty advanced. Cancer is a wasting disease - moreso in the later stages.

I truly hope this isn't the case. You said she's stage one - have they scanned her completely? Chest and head?

Best of luck

Heavy smoking as mentioned, can cause carboxyhemoglobin, by carbon monoxide attaching to RBC, and hindering the oxygen in red blood cells from being distrusted in the body, causing functional anemia, which can make tumors hypoxic as Cheryld mentioned, and chemo and radio resistant.

thank you very much for the information you guys. my mom has not been eating that much lately. i know we have Ensure here in MNL hopefully i can get her to drink it. it saddens me to see her slowly losing her liveliness and beauty. getting her to stop smoking is easy, whats hard is getting her to eat more. my mom's a doctor too though she specializes on dermatology. i think she hasnt done further test other than her biopsy. her doctor's on leave for 3 weeks. by then she'll get her treatment. ill keep you guys posted. thanks again.

Then need to know exactly what they're dealing with - she needs scans if her head and chest prior to treatment otherwise how are they going to know here to radiate and whether to give her treatment - she should see someone else a here week wait is not okay particularly if as I suspect she needs to have other tests done. She should get another opinion with a top ENT in her area who has lots of experience with head and neck cancers. Best of luck.

[quote=Cheryld]Then need to know exactly what they're dealing with - she needs scans if her head and chest prior to treatment otherwise how are they going to know here to radiate and whether to give her treatment - she should see someone else a here week wait is not okay particularly if as I suspect she needs to have other tests done. She should get another opinion with a top ENT in her area who has lots of experience with head and neck cancers. Best of luck. [/quote]Coming from Canada where everyone has basic insurance coverage is something that, as you know, is not universal. I have no idea how insurance works in the Philippines but would not be surprised to learn most are under-insured and have inadequate access to what we consider "standard of care" level of services.