Question:
I am a 50 year old I.T. and Basic Skills female teacher who has never smoked and only drinks small amounts. I was diagnosed with cancer of the tonsil in June 2007. Since then I have had most of the offending tonsil removed, two cycles of 5 days intravenous chemo (5FU) and am starting six weeks of radiotherapy on Tuesday, with two days of intravenous chemo (cisplatin) on the first two days of the radiotherapy and then repeated in the fifth week. Any tips on handling the radiotherapy greatly welcomed. A tip for anybody who has a CT scan or chemotherapy is don't lift anything (including a handbag/kettle/iron) for at least 24 hours after the chemo/CT scan. I wasn't warned, came home from the hospital and did some ironing after a couple of days. The cannula had been on my right arm. The vein in the arm is now badly inflamed and I am having to put gel strips, which act like an ice pack on it and use Voltarol cream to try and reduce the inflammation. I find it helps to take a small notebook into hospital and write down every doctor's name and what they tell you, because it's difficult to remember who told you what. I also find that breaking the treatment down into chunks and then marking each part as complete is helpful. Drinking ginger ale/ginger beer is supposed to be a refreshing drink during or after chemotherapy. I'm getting qute a taste for it!! Best wishes to everybody in the group and good luck to those of you who are currently receiving treatment.

Answer: -I too went through Cisplatin, and some other chemo chemical, treatment. However over here (France) they don't give it through the arm as it is very dangerous and strong for the veins. Here they insert a sort of catheter in our chest which stays throughout treatment (and afterwards) and the chemo is given through this semi-permanent catheter thingy. Check out my blog entries for October 2005 and look at the one on October 10th, 2005 when they inserted the thing: You'll find I was really very unhappy when they put it in and how they put it in. But I can assure you I was very pleased much later when it made treatment much easier. I am looking forward to hopefully having it removed sometime this year as they leave it in quite long here... just in case I ever have to go back in for treatment again... I am not a medical professional at all, I have extremely limited medical knowledge and I am only a patient and survivor... But perhaps this could be an option for you? -I can see you're further ahead with your treatment, which is very helpful. It's also interesting to hear from people in other countries and particularly from anybody having treatment now. My doctor has already given me Voltarol cream for my arm and said at the time that it is usually prescribed for the neck during radiotherapy as well. How are you managing with eating? My sister in law's brother had throat cancer and he recommended eating olives and garlic throughout as they are a natural antiseptic and having a daily Benecol or similar yoghurt, because they helped with keeping the right bacteria. I have also been given some of the Manuka honey, because that's supposed to have healing properties. Do you have any more chemo this week and which chemo are you having? How are you managing with weight loss? We certainly will get through this! I'm determined not to get a PEG if I can possibly help it.