did i get a second cancer?

[frank1980]

Dear friends,

first of all, I apologize with all of you if I don't write into the forum very often but here I'm really between the devil and the deep blue sea... The fear, in fact, has risen up sky high once again because some now and severe issues has come and I'm really really afraid to have been so "lucky" to "win the prize" of a second cancer. To cut a long story short, after the shot of carboplatin chemotherapy (if someone of you remembers it, I had it on the 17th of May), my throat has literally exploded. First with some constant and aggressive cough, then with the difficulty in swallowing foods, then with some severe aches and pains inside my ears and so on... Now, I have tried to cover those problems with antibiotics (and, to be honest, the cough has disappeared) but, for a problem that goes, there is one that comes... and in fact, since a week more or less, I'm feeling a strange sensation of "stings" or "dust" at the entering of my throat and on the hidden part of my tongue. And this is a thing that is literally driving me crazy! I can eat foods even with difficulty (in fact I need the help of a glass of water even with I had to eat tender foods, otherwise they don't go down), pain all over the throat and inside the ears, these "intruders" inside my throat and most of all a big sense of fatigue, my heads keeps on spinning over and over again and I can't do anything. Today I have forced myself to wake up from the bed and to do something, but it's very difficult to do them because I'm feeling really really weak. I spoke with my family doctress and when she visited me she saw that my high breathing ways are free from obstacles, and she thinks that is a psychological matter, and the same answer I got from my oncologist when I spoke to her about this fact. But I have requested a deeper visit and a strumental exploration of all my throat because I'm feeling really really scared to death. Although my Pet scan that I did on April came back clear, the blood values are all ok, and the last Ct scan came back clear too (even if my neck wasn't checked), adding that the ecography at my thyroid came back normal, I'm really afraid that it could be a possible second cancer. If someone of you,as always, wants to stop here and drop a line, I would appreciate it very very much, please!

Thank you once again and a friendly hug!
Frank

[hbr777]

Frank,

In the USA he say, "I need to talk you down from the ledge." I hope I can do that a bit.

It is very normal what you are experiencing. The stress and the nerves can really do a bad job on your head. I'd bet with 100% certainty that you do not have another cancer.

I am wondering if you are suffering from a bad case of acid reflux? Have you had that in the past? That is what your symptoms sound like to me.

Try some medication for reflux. See if it helps with the throat.

Cheers, and hang in there!

[frank1980]

Hi Heidi and thank you for your helpful answer. I'm writing this reply from a mobile phone that is not mine so I don't know if it works properly. Yes,I suffer from a severe form of acid reflux but I have stopped the cure because I began to take an acid pill to cure a lilltle sand in the liver... Today,when I was coming home I stopped to the first aid and the doc found no lymph nodes enlarged in the throat and the upper breathing ways totally free... Really I don't know what to do...

A hug!

[phil63]

Hi Frank,

Sorry you're having a worrying time of it at the moment.

You have helped me a lot over the past few weeks and I'd like to try to help you now.

I am sure what you are experiencing is not cancer. You have had lots of tests all showing you are clear. Your doctors don't think it's cancer. I think after getting cancer, many of us tend to blow up problems that before cancer we wouldn't have given much thought to.

Heidi's comment about acid reflux is interesting. I have a hiatus hernia, which causes GERD, and get some quite strange symptoms related to that; these include problems swallowing and when it's bad waking up in the middle of the night to be sick. I can control it pretty well by keeping off alcohol, not eating anything after about 6pm, and using Gaviscon tablets. I sometimes do have alcohol and late dinners, but I pay the price if I do it too often.

Also, I know it's difficult when you don't feel well, but please try to do something you enjoy to take you mind off this for a while.

Take care Frank.

Regards
phil

[hbr777]

Frank,

Medication did not help my husband with acid reflux, but oddly enough, you know what it? Almonds. Whole unsalted almonds. Six after each each.

You might want to try and see if it works?

[Davepet]

Yes,I suffer from a severe form of acid reflux but I have stopped the cure because I began to take an acid pill to cure a lilltle sand in the liver..

I think you have the answer to your problem right there, Frank. I have no idea what "sand in the liver" means, but stopping your meds for acid reflux is likely behind your symptoms.

Dave

[frank1980]

Thank you once again Heidi, Phil and Dave for your kind answers, really appreciated as always! I will try to answer to each of you in the best way I can:

@Phil: I suffer from GERD too, and I'm having some different symptoms than you, for example sometimes I feel a light pain located at my upper part of the esophagus, or on the back side, cough and difficulty in swallowing foods (only when I'm too stressed, if I'm relaxed I swallow also big pills without problems). And I use the Gaviscon too to keep it under control

@Dave: The problem is that I was forced to stop the cure because I began to take an acid pill for the microlythiasis that I have in the liver (since in Italian we say something like "sand in the liver", I have thought that it was the same in English too). This pill, as I said, is an acid while the Gaviscon (the medicine that I took for the reflux) is a base, and one makes null the effects of the other.

@Heidi: I will try with the almonds, I have never tried them, probably they will work, thank you for your suggestion

However, yesterday I had two visits, one with a generic doctor that checked my head for enlarged lymph nodes without finding anything strange or abnormal, and in the evening I went with a friend of mine to a dentist that checked my mouth and my throat with a mirror. She said to me that I have a little leukoplakia and inflaming process at my left tonsil (I hope to have written it correctly) and a scratch at the upper side of my throat and at the lower side of my tongue, that was caused by some hard fruit that I ate on the last Sunday evening. And both the doctors agreed on the fact that most of the problems that I'm feeling are also related to a psychological condition of high stress. Now, I would like to try to have a quick antibiotic treatment to see if this infection goes out or not, I will ask it to my family doctress and see what her answer will be Anyway, the battle is not over because on the next Monday I would like to do a complete otorinolaryingoiatric visit (correct me if I have written it in the wrong way...)

Thanks once again! You are all real friends and helped me once again! If I can do something for you, ask me everything, I'm at your service!

Frank

[frank1980]

Dear friends,only a moment to inform you that the appointment with the oncologist and the ORL visit went ok...the "dust" in the throat is a symptom related to the GERD and nothing else...Anyway,as always,thank you by heart for your support!

[cbvance]

Frank, sorry I was offline, I have been very busy completing my final degree requirements. I am taking Calculus I and II in two back to back sessions of 5 weeks each. I have been attending night classes 4 hours a night four days a week so I am very exhausted and brain drained to say the least, It sounds like the forum was helpful for you, sorry you are having anxiety and I too agree that you do not have another cancer. The PET scan is very sensitive to uptakes and will "light up" any cancers in the body in fact it is sometimes too sensitive! So if it is clear you can be assured you are clear.

Good luck with the acid reflux and GERD that can be very painful and annoying. Take the medicine! Hang in there my friend you have stared cancer in the face and kicked its butt.

[phil63]

Hi Frank,

Glad to hear everything went well with the onc. I'm sure you feel much better after getting the confirmation it was GERD causing these symptoms.

Best Wishes
Phil

[frank1980]

Hi Charlie and hi Phil! And of course a warm greet to all the other friends... I'm very sorry if during these days I haven't written here into the forum but I'm at my second home at the seaside and here we have no landlines and the only way to connect to the internet is with the satellite connection and it goes very slowly. I have to admit that I miss everybody of you very much because for me this forum is very important... however, whenever I can, I come here to read the news and to drop a line...

Talking about the problems at the throat, finally they have started to heal and since yesterday I'm feeling better, in fact now I can swallow without problems and that sensation of "stones" in the throat is slowly disappearing, sometimes it appears but is very light and I can bear it. To cut a long story short, on the last Monday I went to the oncologic center and asked to the oncologists there to touch my head searching for potentially enlarged nodes. They explored me very carefully and didn't find anything, so they sent me to the otolaringology unit (sorry if I have written it in the wrong way, my English is rusty and needs to be cleared a little ) and asked to the doctors there to explore my throat with an endoscopy. The doctors introduced a thin tube into my nose and reached my throat to see what was happening, and told me that there was an irritation process at the mucous membranes caused by the GERD. So they gave me a cure based on a mixed use of Gaviscon and lansoprazole, now I'm following it and finally the throat is starting to heal. I'm desperately trying to spend my time without thinking about other things rather than cancer or health issues, I'm trying to go out, take a walk on the seaside and so on, and I'm doing the best I can to rest my mind a little bit...

A new and warm friendly hug to Phil, Charlie, Col, Patrick, Heidi, Nut, Dave and to all the other friends! You are always in my thoughts as real friends!

Best wishes!
Frank

[frank1980]

I think you have the answer to your problem right there, Frank. I have no idea what "sand in the liver" means, but stopping your meds for acid reflux is likely behind your symptoms.

Dave

Dave, I found on the internet the translation of what was written on my CT report: "Possible presence of infundibular microlithiasis in the gallbladder". I was meaning this

[hbr777]

Little, teeny tiny gallstones, I think is what you are talking about?

I hope all is well Frank, other than GERD and gallstones.

[frank1980]

Hi Heidi,yes you are right,gallstones is the right word. Apart from this issue,everything seems to be normal at the moment,and I wish the same for you and your husband... Best!