Has anyone successfully tried or know of anyone who received the Chemo and not the radiation? My cancer tumor was removed from my tonsil & throat and the surgeon was able to get a clear margin around the enitre mass. I still have infectected lymph nodes on both sides of my neck so the recommended next steps are radiation and chemo. It seems like radiation is fairly adverse and has many long term side effects. Checking to see if chemo only is a viable option. Appreciate any insight.

Never heard of such a thing. Although I will agree that Radiation is the gift that keeps on giving. Still I tend to think that there is a reason the most if not all of us here at OCF have had radiation. I know that chemo only was never an option for me with my first nor second cancer.
Charm

Here is what I know and what I've been told. Surgery + chemo is an available option depending on the tumor. If you look up Dr. Neal Futran of the U of Washington Medical Center you will find a video of him interviewing an oral cancer patient who had just chemo (before and after)and surgery. At the time of the interview she was a 3 year survivor and scanning clear.

My ENT informed me that IF I had a recurrance that wasn't in a good spot surgically, that I had little options other then chemo, which wouldn't save me...just prolong the inevitable. Of course I love my ENT but I would still get a second and third opinion before I made any decisions at that point.

My opinion...radiation sucks, but it did the job and I'm still breathing and scanning clear. Much better then the alternative.

Ive heard of radiation by itself being successul. Chemo alone is not a cure for oral cancer patients.

Michael,

By the way, I did radiation only with no chemo, the opposite of what you are looking at. I can tell you that I got three expert opinions from very good institutions before choosing my treatment. Whatever you decide, make sure you get a second, and if you can, a third opinion from the best doctors or institutions you can find.

This is an aggressive disease, you want to fight it aggressively .

Kelly

Forgot to ask my question

What do you mean by infected lymph nodes?

Kelly

Michael,

Chemo is most always used concurrently with the radiation as the chemo is meant primarily to weaken the fast growing cancer cells making them more susceptible to being destroyed by the radiation.

BTW if you have bilateral nodal involvement you should have been staged a N2c.

Were/are you a tobacco user? Have you been tested for HPV?

Yes radiation is not fun and some side effects are life long but the alternative may be permanent. I had the concurrent chemo/rad and my taste and saliva are easily over 90% of what they used to be. My thyroid is fried but a single pill a day corrects that and my hearing is damaged due to Cisplatin and perhaps my delivery method but not so much that I need hearing aids.

Maybe, just MAYBE, if you are HPV+ then MAYBE I would consider chemo alone. Nope, on second thought, I wouldn't risk it even if I was HPV+ because once it spreads beyond the nodes your survival chances go way way down. I would think that before they would do away with the rad and just agree to chemo, they would probably insist on a bilateral neck dissection and I would take the rad over the ND's any day. JM2C's

Kelly,
The cancer is in the lymph nodes and one is 2.5 cm. It is in the other side of the neck as well. Thank you for response. I am seeking multiple opinions.

All - Thanks so much for your quick responses. I did smoke for approximately twelve years (light smoker, about a pack per week) and quit thirteen years ago. The surgery went well and I'm thankful that there were ample clear margins around the growth. Right now the doctors feel comfortable not proceeding with a neck dissection until the radiation and chemo treatments are completed. The neck dissection will only be needed if the chemo and radiation treatments aren't successful. I was hopeful that a chemo only treatment might be possible because it seems the least invasive of the three (neck dissection, radiation and chemo). The doctors seem pretty set on the radiation in conjunction with chemo. The chemo drug that will be used is Erbitux. Has anyone had experience this drug? Again, my thanks for your quick responses. I really appreciate you sharing your experiences. It helps a lot.

Michael,

There are many here who have experience with Erbitux so you should get some response from them on that. You can also go up to the top right of the page and put "Erbitux" in the search box. You will find a huge nimber of posts with this drug mentioned.

Good luck