Hello Everyone

I came home from my first radiation tx and was going to post but I had a new E-mail from a friend I met on this Forum.

Below is what he wrote, followed by my reply. I figured why write it twice.

(Mike)
I liked the picture you have on your OCF profile. LOL

Good one

(Petey)
Hey Mike

Ya, it's a hoot!

I was just getting ready to post. (I'll write it now and copy/edit/paste/post)

When I first came to this sight and read the horrors of the treatment I had chose death. I was looking at "quality of life" as I read these horrible treatments and their after affects. (They almost Kill You To Cure You) Plus my financial ruin. The people here made me want to fight the Beast.

Then I could not get help. In the 60+ days I waited my tumor grew and my lymph node swelled from a bump to bigger than a golf ball.

I had to go on TV to get help. Someone did that for me, as after 50 days I sat my family down and told them I was dying and FLA. won

Petey,
Slow down.
Even though it is not what you wanted to hear, now at least you know and the treatment can be adjusted. This is much better than to opt for a "mild" treatment that is not effective in the end.
So they will adjust the radiation field, good. It is also quite common to have chemo during the rad treatment. There are different options and agents, but it does not always have to be that debilitating. My guess is that if you are miserable you are more likely to post here than if you do really well. Therefore, what you read here may not be representative.

Remember you want to win the war and not just a battle.
In my case we changed the radiation field after we started rad tx. We also changed the chemo regimen twice. Above all, you cannot change the past and the decisions that were made then, try to accept them.

Clearly, this is no walk in the park, but you can do this! Just look at all the people here. It gets better if you have been in treatment for a while, I think.

I do like your pic, it is very funny. Humor helps.

Markus

Hey Petey,

As you have advised on here many times........take a deep breath and relax. You are having the same treatment that MANY others on here have had and they are long term survivors. Can't throw the towel in that fast young man, you're a fighter and a survivor.

Praying for you.
Minnie

Petey, There is nothing to despair of yet. They caught those nodes right when your treatment was starting so now you're getting the full treatment which is great! The chemo makes the radiation work better so in a way, if you have to go through all the misery of radaition, don't you want to maximize the likelihood that it works? Well--thanks to now getting chemo, you are!

When I was treated I was in this kind of grey area but I elected to have chemo(in my case I was really given a choice--which I suspect happens less these days since they have rewritten the guidelines). My reasoning was that from everything I'd read, radiation was going to make me pretty miserable anyway and so adding chemo wouldn't really make things that much worse. I'll never know how true that was because I don't know how I would have responded to just rad. alone, but going through with both is very very do-able. Not pleasant, but do-able. You just take one day at a time....

You'll probably feel better once you get through the first chemo and know what to expect. And we'll be here to listen when you need us!

Nelie

Your survival odds are significantly improved when you get adjunctive chemo with radiation. It's no picnic but it beats the alternative. Be greatful that your team wants you to do both. You need to hit this with everything you've got.

Dear Petey,

If this was going to happen, boy were you in the right place at the right time. Markus is absolutely right, you want to win the whole war, not just the battle. I wish I could have gotten that through my Aunt's stubborn head. From everything I've read for the last four long years, chemo plus radiation is more effective at obliterating this thing.

You can do this. YOU CAN DO THIS! You're Petey!
And you've got God, good doctors and everyone here on your side. You can do this!

Hugs,
Lisa

Petey,

I was one of the first ones to post to you "way back then" and my message is still the same now...don't give up on yourself!!! Many of us on this site had nodal involvement and received concurrent chemorad and we're still here posting. I am only 10 months out and back to riding and in only my 3rd week back I have already put in 65 miles and will do another 50 this Sunday. In my prime I was averaging 100 miles a week so I am fully back.

Don't you dare give up on yourself now or I'll come over there and wup your butt!! I'll probably wait until you get a few more rads but then watch out.

Petey, Like Lisa said, you can do this, you are PETEY!!!!!!!!!!I told you I had two lymph nodes positive for c, that is why I had the radiation. 5 years ago my doctor told me they weren't using chemo much for head and neck cancers, now they are and I say the more amunition (sp?) the better! Petey, you gotta do what you gotta do, none of us know when our last day will be, if you think about it, each and every one of us are dying, not to be morbid. You are NOT going to give up!!!!!!!!!!We won't let you...I will make a trip to Florida myself! Carol aka Crab Cakes

p.s. I did not mean that we are all dying from oral cancer, but we will die someday, you know what I mean.

Hello All

Please stop making me laugh! You know I have an aversion to humor!

They freaked me out yesterday. It was like, get to the hospital, now!

When the RO called Dr. Chemo, and for me to call him this morning to see what time to go to the hospital for chemo, like it was an emergency. Well they gave me a 7-16-07 appointment?

They have me scheduled for rad tx 5x weekly. I thought they were supposed to work in conjunction? They scared the heck out of me, now it's like, come to the office in 10 days.

I will tell this to the techs today at my rad tx and have them call the Dr. direct as the chemo secretary "took" the call from my RO and she relayed message. I think messages are getting crossed, I don't know.

Maybe if my life was stable I would handle this better. But with all the uncertainties I'm facing is much for any man. Then to have cancer on top of all that is "like the icing on the cake" so to speak.

I hate to keep sounding like a pity partier or a whiner but damn, one can only handle so much!

My wife says the Lord never gives you more than you can handle. I just hope no one hands me a straw today.

I'm leaving to get "potty parts", catch an AA meeting (Lunch Bunch Group), drop off papers at the lawyer, go get nuked and come home and fix the toilet in the pool house.

Oh ya, the OR nurse would not prescribe anything for sleep as she was "worried" about me and my addiction to alcohol? I guess the 3 hours a night sleep I've been getting will go a long way in helping me maintain my weight that she was so concerned with. She was very nice though, warm and caring, patting my shoulder now and then.

I've got to go, the day awaits me! Petey