Hi,

I would appreciate any input from others who may have experienced conflicting input regarding chemo. By way of background, I recently underwent tongue resection and neck dissection. My signature below provides some detail regarding my pathology results.

My surgeon suggested that I will need both radiation and chemo. However in meeting with a local oncologist at OHSU (Portland, OR) he believes that only radiation is sufficient. Since these are two conflicting opinions, I'd appreciate any suggestions on how to break the tie. Needless to say I am happy if I do not need chemo, but at the same time I want to go through it if it increases the odds of long-term success.

Thanks in advance for any comments or pointers. I love this forum and hope to contribute when I am through my treatments.

Hi Chetan

My husband Steve had Rads and Chemo. He got 3 x Cisplatin over a 7 week period. It was described to us as the chemo helps the radiation. They compliment each other. I wish I could remember the exact words but in a way i'm happy to say it's been a while since we heard the explaination. Steve is 1 year and 9 months cancer free from a stage 4 diagnoses, no surgery. Not sure if the chemo had any major part to play in this but I do believe that his treatment plan of rads and chemo are part of why he is still going as strong as he is.

I'm sure the other guys here will have some more information on chemo than I can offer. Whatever you decide to go with I wish you the best.

Chetan,

The chemo boosts the effect of the radiation, i.e. adds more killing power (most est between 10 and 20%) and if I were you, considering your cancer is HPV negative, I would opt for the chemo

Chemo is the smaller of the to devils by far! It basically causes nausea and a little more fatigue - it was the easiest of the two. It really can't hurt and may help... I'd do it.

This is an aggressive cancer and you should respond accordingly. You definitely will be able to have chemo again later if you should need to and I guess my question to you is:

"Why would you not take advantage of very option to kill the beast?"

My theory is: Hit me with your best shot. It won't be fun, but you will get through it and any extra boost you can get is exactly what you should do.

Remember - not all doctors are up to speed. Too often I have seen doctors tell patients what they want to hear - to the patient's detriment.

Hugs

Donna

My husband Earl also had a Stage 4 diagnosis. He underwent both chemo with cisplatin and radiation for six weeks. Knock on wood, it's been three years since the diagnosis and he is doing great. Err on the side of caution and go with the chemo. The discovery of cisplatin's cancer fighting qualities occurred by a serendipitous lab observation. Read about the discovery by Barnett Rosenberg here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnett_Rosenberg

Connie

Wendy, David, Cheryl, Donna, Connie,

Thanks very much for sharing your thoughts. I agree with being aggressive now, and am scheduled to meet with a MO tomorrow. I will let you know what he says. In the meantime, I was wondering if any of you experienced extra capsular extension in the nodes. Apparently the reason my RO did not think chemo is needed is because I had no extra capsular extension.

On another note, my RO is planning to radiate both sides of the neck (because two lymph nodes), even though only the left side had any evidence of SCC. Based on your comments above, I am assuming that a more aggressive option such as this is better, but thought I'd bounce it off you.

Thanks again for your valuable insight!

Best Regards,
Chetan

Hi, Everybody,
I also had a neck dissection and a combo of radiation and chemotherapy. My docs also wanted to "throw the book at" my cancer, and the chemotherapy was the least of my problem. I am not sorry that I had both. Had my 5th clear scan last week. Yea!

Chetan,
I am one of the few you will talk to, apparently, who got along worse with chemo than radiation, at least until the last few days of radiation. Yes, I had microscopic extra capsular extension. It was the correct treatment, I believe. After a chemo weekend (I had them on Friday evenings) I would say that I hoped any cancer remaining following my surgery would have as bad a time with Cisplatin as what I was having! They like using chemo with rad because in general it does raise statistics for beating your cancer.

But extra capsular extension is not the only good reason to have chemo. Multiple lymph nodes involved, perineural involvement, and location of the lymph nodes all figure into it as well. If your cancer is more aggressive and less than well differentiated, then chemo is probably going to be valuable because chemotherapy will kill those more aggressive cancers better than the less aggressive ones. This is what the MO told me, and I have read this also.

Hope this helps you.
Best,
Anne

I'm just going to second what Anne said- do what you can - there are no guarantees but you want no regrets - good luck tomorrow !