Tag Archives: Throat Cancer

Cancer, Cancer Everywhere.

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First let me say that I have never been a smoker, drug user or sun bather. As a chemist I have always been cautious about chemical exposure. I have numerous cancers now with the two serious ones in remission. The new ones- who knows.

I use a university hospital and have been visited by flocks of med students looking at me in wonder, sometimes looking down my throat. I get a kick out of it. I always try to joke with them. All cancer diagnoses go before a faculty tumor board for collective assessment. That in particular drew me to this hospital.

My experience with numerous radiation, medical, ENT, and head & neck oncologists is that they absolutely do not want to discuss end of life issues. Maybe that is because I’m not near the end yet, though. But more likely they have production quotas and need to stick to the timeline. My head and neck oncologist did say that they were trying to keep me above the grass, though. That was cheerful.

Since July 22 of this year, I’ve had a partial glossectomy to remove a tumor resulting in a nickel-sized piece of the left edge of my tongue being removed, my first colonoscopy, a neck dissection looking for more cancer, and tomorrow is a root canal. Sonofabitch!

The glossectomy resulted in giving me slurred speech and then the neck dissection made it much worse with the added joy of serious swallowing difficulty. Liquids must be thickened with carrageenan gum to mostly avoid inhalation of food and drink. I’ve already been hospitalized with pneumonia resulting from inhaled food.

My 68th birthday was last week and while I received my well wishes, not a single person was moved to suggest a gerontologist, elder care facility or even as little as when the word “elderly” is used. I’m left up in the air …

It never occurred to me earlier in life that a piece of my tongue could be sliced out. What part of your body is more intimate in your daily consciousness than your mouth? I’ve had surgeons say “give me control of your tongue”. A fella doesn’t hear that very often.

The colonoscopy revealed 2 polyps suspected of being cancerous. So, to tally up the score, I have stage 4 prostate cancer, stage 4 throat cancer, tongue cancer, basil cell skin cancer, and possible colon cancer. Jesus H. Christ!! What next?.

The radiation of my throat resulted in the loss of about 1/2 of my salivary glands and taste buds. I’ve had dry mouth since radiation treatment in 2013, resulting in the loss of numerous teeth.

I was given radiation treatment of my prostate in 2014 and again last summer when the PSA score breached the 4.0 level. Since the 2014 treatment the thinking has changed on radiation dosage. Previously I was given about 1.8 Gray per dose. This time it was 5.0 Gray per dose over fewer doses. The thinking is that it is better to try to break the cancer cell DNA in 2 places at once rather than in just one place. In two rounds of x-radiation treatment of my prostate, I have experienced no pain or discomfort. I’ve had two rounds of 18F-Glucose injections for PET/CT scans.

The throat radiation was a different story. It gave me the world’s worst sore throat. I was fed through a stomach tube and was on opioids for an extended period. Let me say that I detest opioids and the constipation they bring. How do opioid addicts deal with this??

The throat cancer was from the HPV virus and that form is quite treatable, fortunately for me. The tongue cancer was also a squamous cell carcinoma but not of HPV origin.

Life on our lonely pale blue dot is strange. I’ll never get a full grasp of it. I’ll be on the top side of the grass for a while yet and until that changes, I’ll still be a student of the sciences and will continue to write about it.

The Squamous Chronicles: 10 Years Later

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It has been right at 10 1/2 years since I was treated for squamous cell throat cancer. This virally induced cancer is quite treatable with a high success rate. The treatment was simultaneous radiation and cisplatin. The x-radiation dose was 68 Gray in daily 2 Gray doses with 6 cisplatin infusions. The radiotherapy machine was an Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT). The source rotates around the stationary patient varying the beam size and intensity as it goes. The idea is to put the energy into the tumor and spare healthy tissue to the greatest extent possible. The neck is a very crowded place with many kinds of tissues you don’t want to zap too much.

Illustration showing variable intensity beam shaping from the IMRT on the right. Source: Semantic Scholar.

It took about 1 week for the radiation effects to show up. It began with a sore throat which quickly led to a stomach feeding tube. They snake a pointy-ended tube down your throat and poke it out of your belly. I had it in for about 6 weeks. I jammed my liquid food in with a 60 mL syringe.

Besides the considerable discomfort from the radiation, long term side effects were not terrible. My thyroid took a big hit as did my salivary glands and taste buds. Ten years of dry mouth has led to the loss of some teeth. And, there was difficulty in swallowing initially. This problem unexpectedly returned during my recent bout of pneumonia.

The cisplatin was given in 6 doses. The nursing staff in the infusion suite don considerable PPE while handling chemotherapeutic drugs due to the toxicity hazard. I had no noticeable symptoms from this treatment. But while in the infusion suite, I could hear numerous female patients who were groaning in misery and vomiting from their meds. It was heart wrenching.

Nine years ago I wrapped up radiation for my stage 4 prostate cancer. Though the dose was lower at 38 Gray, there were no real negative effects as with the throat radiation. This was followed by 2 years of chemical castration with Lupron. It is also called hormone ablation. Lupron interferes with the production of testosterone. It does not, however prevent the adrenal glands from producing it, but this is a minor source. The first effective treatment for prostate cancer was surgical castration done to halt testosterone production. This hormone accelerates the growth and spread of the cancer. These guys who take testosterone for body building have no idea about the other thing the hormone can do. Just my opinion.

Hormone ablation eventually becomes ineffective because over time the prostate cancer cells respond by increasing the number of androgen receptor proteins on the cell walls. After hormone ablation fails, more severe treatments are put into use.

My outlook is this- The throat cancer is unlikely to return, but the prostate cancer will eventually take me out. I’ve had plenty of time to ponder death since the cancer diagnoses. I’d much prefer to have a quick, fatal heart attack than a slow, wasting death from cancer. I jokingly mentioned this to my cardiologist. He replied that the heart attack might not kill me. Buzzkill.