phrannie's Journey with Undifferentiated Carcinoma, Nasophary...
- 1 Drug or Chemo Therapy Icon Drug or Chemo Therapy
- 2 Radiation Icon Radiation
- 3 Side Effects Icon Side Effects
- 4 Celebration Icon Celebration
- 5 Loss Icon Loss
- 6 Procedure or Surgery Icon Procedure or Surgery
- 7 Other Care Icon Other Care
- 8 Decision Point Icon Decision Point
- 9 Drug or Chemo Therapy Icon Drug or Chemo Therapy
Patient: Head & Neck/Throat Cancer > Nasopharyngeal Cancer > Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma > Undifferentiated Carcinoma
Patient Info: Living with cancer as a chronic illness (undergoing adjuvant therapy), Diagnosed: almost 9 years ago, Female, Age: 71, Stage III
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Experience Icon Descriptions
Procedure: Drag this icon to show a procedure.
Radiation: Drag this icon to show a specific radiation therapy experience.
Drug Therapy: Drag this icon to show a specific drug therapy experience.
Clinical Trial: Drag this icon to show a clinical trial experience.
Side Effect: Drag this icon to show experience with a specific side effect.
Oh No: Drag this icon to show when something bad happened (e.g., cancer’s back, lost job).
Celebration: Drag this icon to show when something good happened (e.g., last treatment, hair is back).
Loss: Drag this icon to show a time of loss (e.g., lost hair, lost loved one).
Decision Point: Drag this icon to show a time when you had to make a tough decision.
Other Care: Draft this icon to show a time when you needed other care (e.g., hospice, psychotherapy).
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Chemotherapy
Drug or Chemo Therapy
I had three Cisplatin treatments in conjunction with radiation and seemed to do ok, a little sick, a lot tired, and weightloss....still "ok". After rads were over I had 3 Cisplatin/5FU fanny pack. 5FU kicked my butt. Sick, hamburger mouth, unable to take in any nutrition or hydration without a feeding tube.
External radiation
Radiation
I've had rads twice....the first time it was along with chemo. My neck was burned, as well as my mouth...no taste buds, and no saliva. The taste and the saliva stayed gone for 3 years. Then I had a recurrence and had rads to the nodes under my collar bone...those rads had very little effect on my daily life.
Mouth sores
Side Effects
If I could have chosen more side effects from that list I would have...dry mouth, weight loss (79 lbs at the end of treatment), nausea, incontinence, peripheral neuropathy, hair loss, etc etc. However, strange as it may seem....the mouth sores were the most debilitating.
Finished treatment
Celebration
What a great day!! I am in the new normal now....
Body part/function
Loss
Little left of my ability to taste, and saliva is pretty much a thing of the past....but I'm alive!!
Surgery
Procedure or Surgery
Neck dissection on 11/13/2015. Neck is a little stiff, but did not lose the ability to raise my arm....THAT was a plus!!!
It's now the end of 2017, and I'm being treated for my 3rd round of HNC
Other Care
Scan in April showed nodules in my lungs, and a tumor in the scalene muscle in my neck. Because they were doing a wait and see on my lungs, no radiation this time....and because the scalene muscle contains the nerve that would run the right side of my diaphragm, no surgery was prescribed either. I started Keytruda the end of June, and had my 10th treatment last Monday. I've had two scans, and so far I am stable. If and when the Keytruda quits working, I'll be looking into clinical trials.
To look for clinical trials on my own
Decision Point
This person has yet to add any details about this experience.
Chemotherapy
Drug or Chemo Therapy
This person has yet to add any details about this experience.