I'm sorry that you got a positive result. It sounds Ike you caught it early. Like Christine said, the drains are no big deal. I actually went home with mine and had them removed a few days later. It didn't hurt at all to have them removed. My doctors said my tumor was T1 after my biopsy and that remained accurate after they removed the whole thing. The staging changed because they found 2positive nodes after the ND. I know it's scary but you are doing all the right things to get well. It's going to be okay.


Tracy - 33 at diagnosis
SCC right ventral tongue Dx 4/11.
T1N2M0
1st resection 5/11.
Bilateral neck dissection: 2 pos nodes
2nd resection w/graft 6/11.
Erbitux x 11 completed 9/11. IMRT x 30 completed 8/11.
3 month MRI and PET/CT all clear.
6, 9, 12 and 24 month post treatment MRIs all clear.