All,

Thanks so much for reading my post and sharing your stories. I feel very inspired to hear about similar situations, and feel like there is a light at the end of the tunnel! I am very nervous about the surgery. The hemi-glossectomy and partial neck dissection is scheduled for Wed, 1/23.

I don't still have the full diagnosis as I only got my PET scan done this last Sat. morning, so I hope to hear more tomorrow. I did have an MRI and met with an oral surgeon. He does not think it has spread, but that it is stage 2 based on the size of the tongue tumor (2.8 cm). So, I guess I am T2N0M0, as far as I know. I would like to get the confirmation from the doc before I build my auto-sig. :-) They think it was caused by HPV but still not sure. I am a former smoker, I quit 9 days ago cold turkey and haven't looked back since.

My surgeon thinks they will need to remove 1/3 of my tongue. They are not sure if they will need to fill it up with a skin graft - he said they will assess it first and then see how big the hole is. He gave me the option to do a skin graft from my thigh, or have skin cells from a cadaver used. Has anyone every heard of this? I voted for the cadaver as he said the results would be the same, and I wouldn't have another wound or scar to deal with. I don't care about scarring, but one less wound would be nice. As long as the results are the same, I don't feel squeamish about the cadaver.

I'm still not sure about the neck dissection. I wrote down a note about drainage bags but I was pretty much in shock when I was taking notes, so I don't know. I just pray it hasn't spread. I supposed the PET scan will be the final test to gauge that. I also hope that getting the first results from the biopsy on 12/31 with surgery scheduled for 1/23 is soon enough. I want it done with this surgeon, he is supposed to be one of the top two in Kaiser in the bay area. So, I did wait another week and he said it should not be a problem.

I will post more once I have the final results...probably in a different topic forum I presume?

I did speak with my employer and will be on short term disability with 60% pay - we are planning 6 weeks for now but I hope to go back sooner. They have been very gracious and i know my job will still be there when I'm better. It was very nice of them considering I've only been there 6 months...some like my boss are even donating some of their unused PTO to minimize the financial impact.

I just pray, pray, pray that I don't need radiation and chemo. But, if I do, I know I will have support here to help me through that scary time.

Thanks again to everyone who responded...I don't feel alone!
Gina