I am a 40 year old man who has been successfully treated for nasopharyngeal cancer in 2002-03 with induction chemotherapy followed by IMRT radiation (I was 37 then). Things have been going well.

I had understood that it was inadvisable for me to have children for some time after I completed treatment because the chemotherapy or radiation or some combination had a small risk of teratogenic side effects after treatment. I am unsure to what degree (if any) that these risks remain in light of the fact that I completed treatment 2 and a half years ago.

Well, you can probably guess where this is heading. My wife (who is 42) is pregnant (8 weeks). Does anyone know if there is anything special that we should do, any test that we should run, or any risk that we should educate ourselves about?

Hello John,

I think that your questions should be directed to her OBGYN and I'm sure they can moniter the baby much closer than a normal baby. I'm no doctor but I would think there are tests that can be run to know for sure. Sounds like you passed the length of time they were concerned about.
Hoping all turns out well for both of you. Please keep us posted as I have never read about this on this forum before. We learn something new every day.

Danny Boy

John,

We found out my wife was pregnant 1 week prior to my diagnosis. I went through induction chemo and chemo rad (See my signature below for drugs, staging, etc.)

She was my caregiver as well and was in physical contact with me every day. We also slept in the same bed.

And beside the whole third eye thing my son is fine.... Just kidding:) All is well. No issues.

As a matter of fact, none of my doctor's seemed too worried about it at all. They did want us to wear a condom because of the Iressa. As I am sure you are aware, I didnt really feel much like doing that anyway.

Good luck and congrats on the new edition. It's your miracle baby!!!!!!! Keep fighting.

Talk to you soon. Peace and love.
Robert