My husband has done extremely well after finishing 21 chemos (Taxol & Carboplatin) & 35 radiation treatments. After getting full set of dentures in Sept. we thought we were good to go.
Now he has daily pain in right leg only. It moves from hip to knee to ankle...some days it hurts bad, some days he is able to work a few hours. He is 60 & did not have arthritis before treatment. In fact, he was a very muscular, farm working fellow. Our oncologist is getting him an appointment with an orthopedic doctor. Has anyone else experienced this? Is it probably treatment related or just a part of old age? Any idea or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I'm sorry to hear. It could be many things, treatment related of not, inactivity. I was paralyzed from the waist down, just by chemo, and couldnt walk for 10 months, and had to relearn how, and still have difficulty to this day. Anyway, I had very similar chemo treatment with Taxotere, Cisplatin and 5-FU, which any of the three can cause neuropathy, and could be that. I think mine was much more than that, and chemo has a way to accelerate any co-conditions that may not occurred of occur years or decades later. When I was hospitalized, I always had leg pain in the thigh, and they always took an ultrasound, was on Coumadin, I guess to help prevent thrombosis, and other related issues. Another is the muscles may have weakened from inactivity, just three dayx bring ged ridden you can lose 50% of your strength, and musvles could hsvd been supporting any weaker ones or old injuries. I have that with my back, with a history of back trouble, but If I don't exercise, it bothers me more. These are just my examples, and could be anything, and hopefully nothing serious.

Check to see about physical therapy to recondition the body, work on leg strength, pain. I did that for a while, and helped. Good luck with everything.

Never heard of that many chemo treatments for this cancer. I would ask your chemo doc.

I saw that too David. I thought it was meant 2 infusions maybe or assumed it was TP Induction chemo, Taxotere, Cisplatin, which can be delivered several ways, 2 or 3 cycles 21 days apart or one short TP IC, followed by chemoradiation, with a Taxane, or radiation alone, but does not add up to 21 infusions? It would be interesting to note any new cycle treatments or trials with this if Vic Vic can say. I have read of small dose cisplatin daily infusions, but no one on any blogs I've seen had it.

Just returned home from week at Vanderbilt after Danny fell on bad leg & broke his hip. They did a scan before surgery & found a golf size tumor in the ball & joint of hip & another small one. They did biopsy & said it is carcinoma from oral cancer. They did a hip replacement which removed that tumor & the other.
They followed with a PET scan which showed "areas of great concern" in vertebrae, ribs, lung. We were then referred back to our original ENT oncologist & rad oncologist. I did post the number of chemo treatments wrong. He was scheduled for 16 (9 + 7 during rads) but missed 1 due to blood counts. These 2 were weekly infusions of Carbo + Taxol. He also had 35 aggresive daily rads.
We will see rad oncologist next Wed then ENT oncologist on the 28th. We ask for everyone's prayers. Right now we are focusing only on the hip recovery. They did say he fell & broke his hip, not that the hip broke & then he fell.

I'm really sorry to hear that Vic Vic. You will be in my thoughts and prayers, and hope for a speedy recovery, and no other cancer.

Vik, Im so sorry to hear of your husbands broken hip and cancer diagnosis. When you first posted, I thought to myself I had not heard of anyone having that particular issue but wondered if it could be mets. Im so sorry to see that it is.

He sure has been thru alot in such a short time with first the pain, then falling and breaking his hip and finally the most serious, the cancer diagnosis. From what Ive heard, Vanderbilt is an excellent cancer center so he is being treated at a very good place.

Please keep us posted. Best wishes with everything you both are going thru and facing.

We saw rad oncologist yesterday. He has spots on both clavicles, rib, left hip, vertebrae, & sternum. The main concerns are the right hip which he had surgery on, to clean up the area & to the vertebrae that are crumbling. This will be low dose daily rads for 2 wks. They cannot rad the sternum due to damaging heart. Basically, they will rad any areas that do become painful. Our rad oncologist was very shocked. She said that oral cancer does not usually met to the bones.
We see reg oncologist on Mon to see what chemo she has. We are lucky that she is chairperson for the clinical trial boards. Danny is in food spirits & says we will fight again. Please pray for us. Thanks

So sorry to hear the news Vik. Prayers for you and your husband for some comfort during an escalating and so stressful situation.

Ed

Vik, I am so sorry, you and your husband are in my prayers. I am 8 months out of treatment,7 cisplatin/35 rad, and have noticed a shooting pain in my leg. I will check with ENT this month when I go for monthly scope. Truly, I knew VERY little about cancer and treatment until I began this journey.

Education is crucial to my sanity! I recommend "After Cancer Treatment" by Julie Silver, MD and "After Cancer-A guide to your new life" by Wendy Harpham, MD. I had no idea there would be side affects from treatment, really, naive I know.

Take care of yourself and your husband!

My dear friend liza from here had bone mets from oral cancer. It moved into her vertbrae, and ribs. Another I know from facebook, had it move to her hip. Unfortunately if it is in the lymphnodes and not caught early it can move pretty much to anywhere. I has its favorite places, but they are not exclusive.

Chances are his hip bones were weakened by the cancer and therefore when he fell it was much more easily broken.

best of luck on the trials. They have to do something with the sternum... too though otherwise it's only palliative. hugs.