March 22, 2011

We met with Mom's radiation oncologist (I love him!) on Tuesday morning. The PET scan confirmed she has T1N1 Stage III cancer of the hypopharynx with 1 involved lymph node. He again went through the options with us, giving us a few new ones to consider.

1) Surgery to remove the tumor and lymph node - NOT recommended because of the damage to the throat/larynx/voicebox

2) Organ Preservation without surgery to get rid of the cancer  - 3 options -
     (CT/RT = Chemotherapy/Radiation)

     1. concurrent CT/RT - chemotherapy and radiation at the same time - most frequently recommended - 65-70% cure rate - most toxic

     2. sequential CT/RT - weeks of chemotherapy followed by weeks of radiation - less recommended - 60-65% cure rate- less toxic that 1.

     3. RT alone - 55-60% cure rate - least recommended, but the least toxic because of no chemotherapy

3) Hospice - Allow the cancer to spread while treating the symptoms but not the disease.

4) Chemotherapy Alone - Attempt to hold the cancer "at bay" to keep it from growing larger.

This doctor, along with the surgeon who did her biopsy, still recommends trying 2) 2. - sequential CT/RT - in mom's case. He said women are usually tougher than men and that although she is "old" and "feeble", he thought we should give it a try. If the chemotherapy is too hard on her, we can always switch to Radiaion alone. It will still cause damage to her neck and throat, but the drug toxicity is not there from the chemotherapy.

So, I asked Mom what SHE wanted to do, and she wants to try 2) 2. - sequential CT/RT - as this wonderful doctor who I LOVE recommends (I already said that, didn't I!). First, she will have surgery to receive a chemotherapy port in her chest to receive the drugs and not have to become a "pin cushion" and a Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy/PEG (feeding) tube to help her get enough nutrients when her throat becomes too sore to swallow food or when the chemotherapy makes her too sick to eat.  After the port heals for about a week, Mom will begin chemotherapy treatments. We still don't know how many days a week or for how many weeks she will receive chemotherapy, but we should find out soon.

CONTINUED PRAYERS PLEASE!!!