My husband has tongue and neck cancer. He has been through 9 weeks of radiation therapy and 3 rounds of in-hospital chemo since the end of January. After finally completing these processes, he has now had a CT scan and biopsy. The ENT surgeon tells us there is no option of surgery as the cancer surrounds his carotid artery and the surgery would be too dangerous. Of course, we are devastated as this means there is nothing that can be done at this point! I have an appointment at University of FL with an ENT there to get a second opinion. Has anyone ever experienced this and do you have other suggestions? We were so hopeful that the aggressive approach of chemo and radiation first would be successful and now to have our hopes dashed. My husband has done so well to cope wtih all of the problems, PEG tubes, Mediport, weight loss, pain, etc. He suffers the most from the ear pain and there seems to be no relief for that. Our ENT is not very responsive to talking -- following the biopsy, he was in such a hurry and I basically had to tell him that he had just given my husband a death sentence and I thought he could spend a MOMENT to discuss it with us. That stopped him, finally, and he stayed the length of time we needed. There are still so many unanswered questions though and I don't feel he will give us any positive feedback. So, I'm turning to all of you for suggestions and comments. It appears, from the biopsy/ct scans, that the cancer surrounds 2/3 of the back of my husband's throat and the back 1/3 of his tongue. Since radiation/chemo, he is speakingbetter and does not have much throat pain; more the ear. I have asked the ENT if there is something to be done for that and he only suggests pain medicines. These do not help -- they take his mind off of it but do not decrease the pain as it is the nerve signal, not actual addressable pain. I have asked about a pain management approach such as I had for my neck some years ago with a cervical epidural and the ENT has no suggestions. This is my next call, to a pain management specialist. Any comments or suggestions will be welcome. We have had such a wonderful oncologist and radiologist and now to find that the surgeon is not responsive is disheartening to say the least. Thank you.
