I am a 52 y/o male. I am a former smoker. I quit in 1993. I drank a few times a week. I didn�t think that I was a heavy drinker. I exercised 4-5 times a week. Bicycle, jogging weights.

On June 1, 2011 I was driving from my home in PA to FL for a vacation. I was rubbing my face trying to shake off the fatigue and I noticed a small lump on my neck. I immediately thought it was trouble. I called my family doc when I got home the following week. He said he didn�t know what it was and referred me to a surgeon. I went to see the surgeon who told me it was a lymph node but he told me I should see an ENT to check it out. I went to see an ENT who took a needle biopsy on the first visit and put a tube into my nose and down my throat to look around. He said everything looked normal. Four days later I came out of a meeting and I had a message on my cell phone from the ENT. I called back and he told me I had cancer in the lymph node but it was not the origin of the cancer. He had me get a PET scan and did a procedure where they went down my throat while I was under anesthesia and took a number of biopsies.

The PET scan showed three lymph nodes involved and he discovered a small spot on the base of my tongue which turned out to be the primary tumor. The pathologist did a test and determined that the tumor was not HPV related. They initially thought it was because I quit smoking 18 year prior to the diagnosis and I was otherwise healthy. The ENT referred me to a radiology oncologist and a medical oncologist to give me concurrent chemo (cisplatin) and radiation. The radiation was 5 days a week for seven weeks. The chemo was going to be once every three weeks, but after the first dose they cut back the dose and gave it to me once a week. The large dose was going to permanently damage my hearing.

They recommended and I received a port to get the chemo, and a PEG tube. I waited until I was 3 weeks into the radiation to get the PEG tube. I started using it the next day. I had a bad case of thrush. The thrush cleared up but I kept using the Peg tube until three weeks after I was done the radiation. Between the pain and the nausea it was easier to just use the PEG tube.

I started the treatment on 8/8/2011 and finished on 9/26/2011. It made me sick, tired and beat me up. I had pain in my mouth and throat but I got through it. I lost 30lbs. I have since gained a few back and I am starting to get some strength back. I am not so tired all the time. Eating food helps.

I am now waiting to get a follow up PET scan and another look down my throat in December. The lump went away. The lump was the only way I knew anything was wrong. I felt perfectly fine before I received the diagnosis. Now I am on the mend and waiting to see what happens next.

Vince