what to do when doctors disagree? - 01-06-2004 02:13 PM
My husband's oncologist and ENT surgeon are disagreeing about what to do at this stage of his treatment. (He has cancer in hard palate, right tonsil, and right lymph nodes of neck). The oncologist says chemo is not working much, if at all, based on current CT. But the surgeon says he needs to see more results from chemo because he is thinks he cannot remove all cancer with surgery.
We learned this yesterday when Scott went back to the oncologist for more chemo (his second round of Methatrexate, which is very mild and easy on him compared to the previous drugs tried: Taxoterre, 5-FU, and Cisplatin. They abandoned those drugs because the bad effects outweighed any good they might be doing.)
The oncologist thinks we should just have the surgery before it gets any worse hold on Scott, but the surgeon feels that we need to keep trying chemo until we find something that works. I'm torn here. Being in a holding pattern is difficult because the cancer could be spreading, yet we don't want to push for surgery if that will put off chemo and allow any remaining cancer to get another head start. ARGHH! This is so frustrating. My husband is being very patient and positive, thankfully, but last year we were lulled into waiting by a previous doctor and now here we are with a major recurrence.
How do we deal with these delays and differing opinions? We went to several doctors before settling on these and I don't even know if seeing someone else at this stage is a good idea.
Any words of wisdom would be appreciated.
Christine
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Husband diagnosed with stage I SCC of retromolar area 10/02; surgery 11/02; 33 radiation ending 2/03; recurrence (or new primary?) 9/03 of hard palate, right tonsil, lymph nodes of right neck.
We learned this yesterday when Scott went back to the oncologist for more chemo (his second round of Methatrexate, which is very mild and easy on him compared to the previous drugs tried: Taxoterre, 5-FU, and Cisplatin. They abandoned those drugs because the bad effects outweighed any good they might be doing.)
The oncologist thinks we should just have the surgery before it gets any worse hold on Scott, but the surgeon feels that we need to keep trying chemo until we find something that works. I'm torn here. Being in a holding pattern is difficult because the cancer could be spreading, yet we don't want to push for surgery if that will put off chemo and allow any remaining cancer to get another head start. ARGHH! This is so frustrating. My husband is being very patient and positive, thankfully, but last year we were lulled into waiting by a previous doctor and now here we are with a major recurrence.
How do we deal with these delays and differing opinions? We went to several doctors before settling on these and I don't even know if seeing someone else at this stage is a good idea.
Any words of wisdom would be appreciated.
Christine
________________________________________
Husband diagnosed with stage I SCC of retromolar area 10/02; surgery 11/02; 33 radiation ending 2/03; recurrence (or new primary?) 9/03 of hard palate, right tonsil, lymph nodes of right neck.