Hi,
i'm Dave, a 46 y.old male, non smoker with a BOT cancer diagnosed a year ago. underwent a first neck dissection followed by 7 weeks RT to BOT and neck area.

6 months later, another lump surfaced on the contralateral side, yeah I know, bad news...

4 weeks ago had a second neck dissection, on left side this time. One node was found to be nasty out of 48. evidence of early extracapsular activity but resected with clear margins.

The next step recommended is another course of RT to that side. However, the downside is that it will zap the only parotid gland that I have left which will then have serious effects on saliva production and maintenance of healthy teeth.

i have a few days to decide if i want to go ahead with this or just leave as it stands. I was told there might be 30-50% chances of recurrence in that neck area without RT.

There was also a discovery of another node which suggests possible thyroid cancer but it doesn't seem to be very urgent considering the more aggressive nature of the other SCC.

I would appreciate some viewpoints from others who might have been faced with a similar situation, any advice will be much appreciated.

Cheers
dave