I just wrote in another note that I had to stop radiation because my throat swelled inside from my lymphedema and I had to chose a trach or radiation. I chose quality of life since this wasw for insurance purposes only.(All nodes clear, no metasis and margins clear) they had previously told me chemo would not help in my case and just chose radiation. NOw they are thinking of chemo but have not gotten back to me in over a week. I am so anxious. I read on here somewhere that Brian refused chemo. I cannot find the post now. Why did Brian refuse? Can someone enlighten me. My doctors could not communicate with the telephone co.

Peace,

Brian will have to explain his decision but I was told by my docs that chemo wouldn't by itself kill my cancer, only the rad would do that. But they said that the chemo assisted the rad in being more effective in killing the cancer and they told me by about 20 to 30%. They also told me that I could only get the rad once so I opted to get the whole Tx. As you see I "only" was given Cisplatin but there seems to be many different approaches as to what chemo to use now. Ask your docs. You must be comfortable with their reasoning.

I didn't have Chemo but did have surgery and radiation. My doctors decided against surgery for a couple different reasons. I had one lymphnode that had cancer, and they said it was the one under my jawline, and the cancer was "miniscule" is the word they used. They did not believe the cancer had moved beyond my jaw, so no need to sweep my entire body with chemo looking for a stray cell. I had clean margins from surgery so they felt the radiation would be enough to "clean-up" any leftover cells around my tumor area.
I don't think Brian refused Chemo, or at least I've never heard him say that. I know he didn't have chemo, but I don't recall him stating he refused it..............but I could be wrong.

The chemo just enhances the radiation is what the oncologist and radiologist told my sister. She wasn't given enough cisplatin (only 50 mg) to be effective on cancer at other sites. In fact the oncologist reduced the cisplatin from 60 to 50 mg because my sister was having so much vomiting and nausea. The reduced dosage made a difference.

here's a thought. I actually read somewhere that chemo when it kills the cells good and bad, sometimes because your immune system is so low, the cancer can then come back sometimes faster than before because your immune system is so weak and has no defence. Just an idea i read somewhere anyway.