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Visit www.forensics.edu.au
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This website (which is still under construction) is dedicated to those who are or have been affected by throat cancer.
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Michael was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal cancer early in 2002. He underwent a 6 week regimen of combined chemo-radiotherapy at the Mater Hospital, Crows Nest, Sydney, Australia. The picture above shows Michael at his worst. He had severe radiation burns, was unable to speak, eat or drink and had severe mucositis.
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This is Michael 5 months after treatment. He was still recovering (he still had his PEG tube and had significant trouble eating solid food), but he represents the fact that there is light at the end of the tunnel as he was wanting to go back to work.
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Preparation for chemotherapy and radiotherapy started in the first week of February. A Percutaneous Intravenous Catheter (PIC) line was inserted for the continuous infusion of 5-flurouracil 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Cisplatin was administered one day each week for 6 weeks. Radiotherapy commenced mid February and continued 5 days a week until the second of April.
During treatment Michael suffered severe mucositis, was constantly expectorating, and could not sleep for more than 15-20 minutes at a time, as he would begin to choke on the phlegm-like secretions. Around the third week of treatment, side-effects increased in severity so much so that he could not drink, eat or talk. His mouth was extremely ulcerated and he was in a great deal of pain. He became dehydrated and was admitted to hospital and a Peritoneal Endoscopic Gastronomy tube (PEG) tube was inserted into his stomach so he could feed. Intensive radiotherapy led to burns and blistering of the skin as well as inside the throat. He was on high dose opiates for the pain (as well as a number of other medications to control nausea and vomiting) which meant he required 24 hour supervision.
The other pages are for those interested in mucositis, PEG tube feeding, other chemoradiotherapy side effects and a bit about Michael.
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