My husband Mariano is a Tenacious Warrior!
We had no idea from the very beginning the magnitude of what we were about to embark upon in the many months following his diagnosis. The purpose of sharing our story is to help others diagnosed with a form of head and neck cancer prepare for their Warrior journey. We wish to provide support before, during and after treatment.
Mariano was diagnosed in the fall of 2017 with Stage 3 Nasopharyngeal Cancer. His tumor was located at the very back of his nasal cavity and top of his throat. His treatment would consist of 33 radiation treatments and 7 Chemotherapy treatments over the course of 7 weeks (Dec 2017 – Jan 2018). He had an additional round of Chemo in March 2018 as well.
We had an excellent care team. Mariano’s Oncologist, Radiation Oncologist and ENT physician were amazing as well as their respective nurses, technicians and therapists. During treatment Mariano had 3 short stays in the hospital. Two related to his feeding tube and one for fevers to rule out sepsis. What I found to be a challenge was figuring out how to manage the side effects at home. He battled; nausea, vomiting, constipation, diarrhea, mouth sores, mucus and pain. There were several times along our journey that I felt it would have been helpful to talk to someone who had already fought this battle. I could have used ideas as to how others handled care at home. Someone to troubleshoot strategies with, not to mention reduce stress in an already exhaustive endeavor. What worked best for nausea? When did they have the feeding tube placed? How often did they use a laxative/stool softener to prevent constipation from the narcotic pain reliever? That’s just a snippet of obstacles we overcame. This is why we feel passionate about reaching out to others with head/neck cancer. We want to let them know that they are not alone in this battle.
Mariano is doing well today and is back to work. He has had 2 clean PET scans and continues to be in the monitoring state of scans every 6 months for a few years. We attribute our success with battling this cancer to our faith in God, positive thinking and our amazing care team and family. If anyone would like to talk about our experiences in caring for head and neck cancer at home in greater detail, please do not hesitate to contact me through this website email (bethd@tenaciouswarriors.com).
Best wishes and Godspeed on your healing journey.
Beth D.