Just diagnosed with throat cancer?
08-02-2010, 10:52 AM
#11
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Joined APC: Jan 2006
Position: Spartan
Posts: 3,652
Originally Posted by jwes
Ok my world is about to change and if all goes well doc says 4-5 months to a recovery. My question is "if" all goes well has anyone been through this and gotten back flying 121 with first class medical? 
08-02-2010, 11:42 AM
#13
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Joined APC: Jul 2008
Position: F-4 Wild Weasel
Posts: 361
Originally Posted by jwes
Well I thought I'd give a quick update as of today. On Aug 24th 2009 I had a 7 hour surgery in Mount Sinai Hospital in NYC. The doc removed a 5 cm tumor in my throat and 28 lymph-nods on that same side. I had quite the prison shank scar! (it's healed nicely though) followed by 6 weeks of chemo and radiation therapy. I'm normally about 185 lb. at 6 feet, but bulked up to 210 lb. on docs recommendation because they knew I'd lose weight during chemo/radiation. After the chemo and radiation I dropped down to 137 lb. in mid November. It sucked to put it lightly, I almost went on a PEG feeding tube but got through it. I feel I had the best doctors all around. Dr Eric Genden was the surgeon ENT who is leading the way in Micro-Robotic surgery and as odd as can be his father is a retired American Airline pilot. So we bonded quickly. This last week I had my second PET/CT scan in the last 4 months showing CANCER FREE!! I'm about 165 lb. and am trying to gain another 10 lb. of muscle. I sent all the paper work to ALPA on the results of my first PET/CT scans with hopes of getting back to work. FAA is mandating a year from last chemo. I'm OK with that because it really did take a lot out of me. Although I feel I could go back to work right now, I'm just happy that I'll be going back at all!!
Dr. Genden tells me that throat cancer is rising to almost epidemic proportions for people like myself that are non-smokers! Our cure rate has been in the 90% group but 10 years ago I would have had a 50/50 chance of survival with hopes of a normal life very low!! I have 2 other friends in my airline that had the same cancer. One caught it even earlier then myself and is back online enjoying a normal life. The other has not been so lucky because he waited to long to get it checked out and his radiologist fried his throat to much he could not dilate his esophagus. He had to be on a feeding tube for 2 years where the cancer has now spread to his lungs. My advice to anyone who feels that their body doesn't feel quite right should always get it checked out sooner rather then later.
Dr. Genden tells me that throat cancer is rising to almost epidemic proportions for people like myself that are non-smokers! Our cure rate has been in the 90% group but 10 years ago I would have had a 50/50 chance of survival with hopes of a normal life very low!! I have 2 other friends in my airline that had the same cancer. One caught it even earlier then myself and is back online enjoying a normal life. The other has not been so lucky because he waited to long to get it checked out and his radiologist fried his throat to much he could not dilate his esophagus. He had to be on a feeding tube for 2 years where the cancer has now spread to his lungs. My advice to anyone who feels that their body doesn't feel quite right should always get it checked out sooner rather then later.
If you don't mind me asking, what triggered you to get your throat checked out, any symtoms, etc... Thanks
08-02-2010, 02:48 PM
#14
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Joined APC: May 2005
Position: FO, B-777
Posts: 149
"What triggered me to get checked out?"... I was back at the gym (being lazy for a few months) trying to get rid of the beer gut and small double chin. As I started to lose wieght I noticed a lump on my throat. (I could feel it with my fingers but not see it) Also my mouth was getting a bit more dry when talking to someone at length. No pain or discomfort.
01-07-2023, 09:23 AM
#15
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Joined APC: Dec 2014
Position: Just a pilot
Posts: 745
Resurrecting this thread for a question to those who have dealt with it. I am going in to be diagnosed for somelingering white spots in my throat (hopefully just a lingering “regular illness”).
At what point do you get grounded? Does even a Stage 1 bump that can be removed locally ground you? I can’t find anything in Google and my employer doesn’t have AMAS.
At what point do you get grounded? Does even a Stage 1 bump that can be removed locally ground you? I can’t find anything in Google and my employer doesn’t have AMAS.
01-08-2023, 07:50 AM
#17
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Joined APC: Dec 2014
Position: Just a pilot
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Thanks. Got a friend who is afraid to get checked out of fear for the medical. I tried to tell him that throat cancer isn’t one of the cancers that you can sit on, it grows fast and not many get to fight it before its too late.
01-09-2023, 08:06 AM
#18
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Joined APC: Mar 2008
Position: Standing in front of the tank with a shopping bag
Posts: 918
Tell him not to wait..
Originally Posted by tm602
Thanks. Got a friend who is afraid to get checked out of fear for the medical. I tried to tell him that throat cancer isn’t one of the cancers that you can sit on, it grows fast and not many get to fight it before its too late.
Two months later, I told my Wife, an RN, that "this sore throat is kicking my a$$".. She was conderned and said that it's not normal to have a sore throat for nearly 3 months.. She took a look inside my mouth and was very concerned, demanding I forget worrying about my FAA Medical and see a doctor immediately. My family practitioner was shocked when he saw my throat and sent me to an ENT specialist. Also horrified, the ENT scheduled me for near immediate surgery in 11 days. I continued flying every day until the surgery because I didn't know if I would even live, much less fever fly again. My Wife, knowing what dramatic weight loss I would suffer during treatment, had me eat Dairy Queen for lunch evey day and Cheesecake factory for dinner, and drink 350 calorie boost shakes every free moment. I went from 184 pounds to 190 in that short time to prepare me for surgery. On August 31, 2015, I flew my last flight, a cancer patient from MMH to BUR to RNO, and I was in surgery the next day to remove a cancerous right tonsil.
6 weeks late after my surgery wounds healed, I began concurrent chemotherapy and 36 radiation treatments (Imagine waterboarding). In 6 weeks of chemo and radiation, I went from 174 to 149 and was told that if I went under 130, that I would have to get a feeding tube. I lost 20 more pounds, getting down to 129 and looking like a POW, but I cheated on the weigh in and was weighed at 130.5, LOL.. This was right at the point that I started getting my pain meds where I could eat again and I pulled out of the dive and started gaining weight again. I had clean Pet Scans in the Spring of 2016, and have been cancer free ever since.
I would like to add that I got some amazing advice from my man JWES above on this thread, and that everyone who has the slighest inkling of lingering throat pain needs to get it checked out IMMEDIATELY. My Wife truly saved my life despite my reluctance to risk my FAA Medical and go to a doctor. I got my 1st Class Medical back in Winter of 2017, but I still looked like I was still sick. I returned to tlying in 08/2017 and have been cancer free since 2016. Not everyone has a tough time as I had with radiation.. DON'T WAIT and feel free to PM me with any questions that you may have.. Good Luck!
01-10-2023, 10:15 AM
#19
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Joined APC: Dec 2022
Posts: 260
Originally Posted by B727DRVR
In the Summer of 2015, I was living in Northern CA and flying air ambulance out of Reno. It was during the drout and fires, along with high desert, where everyone was sneezing, coughing, and had sore thorats from allergies and smoke irritation. My Wife and I both had a sore throat and allergies, and I treated it with asprin and ibuprophen.. not a big deal I thought. I took asprin and the minor pain would go away, then come back; It was just an irritation, really.
Two months later, I told my Wife, an RN, that "this sore throat is kicking my a$$".. She was conderned and said that it's not normal to have a sore throat for nearly 3 months.. She took a look inside my mouth and was very concerned, demanding I forget worrying about my FAA Medical and see a doctor immediately. My family practitioner was shocked when he saw my throat and sent me to an ENT specialist. Also horrified, the ENT scheduled me for near immediate surgery in 11 days. I continued flying every day until the surgery because I didn't know if I would even live, much less fever fly again. My Wife, knowing what dramatic weight loss I would suffer during treatment, had me eat Dairy Queen for lunch evey day and Cheesecake factory for dinner, and drink 350 calorie boost shakes every free moment. I went from 184 pounds to 190 in that short time to prepare me for surgery. On August 31, 2015, I flew my last flight, a cancer patient from MMH to BUR to RNO, and I was in surgery the next day to remove a cancerous right tonsil.
6 weeks late after my surgery wounds healed, I began concurrent chemotherapy and 36 radiation treatments (Imagine waterboarding). In 6 weeks of chemo and radiation, I went from 174 to 149 and was told that if I went under 130, that I would have to get a feeding tube. I lost 20 more pounds, getting down to 129 and looking like a POW, but I cheated on the weigh in and was weighed at 130.5, LOL.. This was right at the point that I started getting my pain meds where I could eat again and I pulled out of the dive and started gaining weight again. I had clean Pet Scans in the Spring of 2016, and have been cancer free ever since.
I would like to add that I got some amazing advice from my man JWES above on this thread, and that everyone who has the slighest inkling of lingering throat pain needs to get it checked out IMMEDIATELY. My Wife truly saved my life despite my reluctance to risk my FAA Medical and go to a doctor. I got my 1st Class Medical back in Winter of 2017, but I still looked like I was still sick. I returned to tlying in 08/2017 and have been cancer free since 2016. Not everyone has a tough time as I had with radiation.. DON'T WAIT and feel free to PM me with any questions that you may have.. Good Luck!
Two months later, I told my Wife, an RN, that "this sore throat is kicking my a$$".. She was conderned and said that it's not normal to have a sore throat for nearly 3 months.. She took a look inside my mouth and was very concerned, demanding I forget worrying about my FAA Medical and see a doctor immediately. My family practitioner was shocked when he saw my throat and sent me to an ENT specialist. Also horrified, the ENT scheduled me for near immediate surgery in 11 days. I continued flying every day until the surgery because I didn't know if I would even live, much less fever fly again. My Wife, knowing what dramatic weight loss I would suffer during treatment, had me eat Dairy Queen for lunch evey day and Cheesecake factory for dinner, and drink 350 calorie boost shakes every free moment. I went from 184 pounds to 190 in that short time to prepare me for surgery. On August 31, 2015, I flew my last flight, a cancer patient from MMH to BUR to RNO, and I was in surgery the next day to remove a cancerous right tonsil.
6 weeks late after my surgery wounds healed, I began concurrent chemotherapy and 36 radiation treatments (Imagine waterboarding). In 6 weeks of chemo and radiation, I went from 174 to 149 and was told that if I went under 130, that I would have to get a feeding tube. I lost 20 more pounds, getting down to 129 and looking like a POW, but I cheated on the weigh in and was weighed at 130.5, LOL.. This was right at the point that I started getting my pain meds where I could eat again and I pulled out of the dive and started gaining weight again. I had clean Pet Scans in the Spring of 2016, and have been cancer free ever since.
I would like to add that I got some amazing advice from my man JWES above on this thread, and that everyone who has the slighest inkling of lingering throat pain needs to get it checked out IMMEDIATELY. My Wife truly saved my life despite my reluctance to risk my FAA Medical and go to a doctor. I got my 1st Class Medical back in Winter of 2017, but I still looked like I was still sick. I returned to tlying in 08/2017 and have been cancer free since 2016. Not everyone has a tough time as I had with radiation.. DON'T WAIT and feel free to PM me with any questions that you may have.. Good Luck!
01-11-2023, 05:33 AM
#20
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Joined APC: Jun 2016
Posts: 428
Originally Posted by PipeMan
Scary! Glad everything worked out for you. If you don't mind me asking, did this run in your family at all? Were you a smoker? How old when you got diagnosed? Just curious about any relation there. Unbelievable how much weight you lost during treatment too. Thanks.
Martina Navratilova also recently diagnosed with throat cancer. It’s a real threat to those of us who have never smoked.
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