Hi all,
I received the pathology report from my TORS; they took 6 samples (and most were at least 2cm in size - this explains the pain!)
The samples were taken from the left palatine tonsil, glossal pharyngeal sulcus, tongue base, vallecula, oral pharyngeal wall at the epiglottic fold, and at the midline tongue base.

Here's the key info:
"Histological sections of left vallecula biopsy demonstrate tonsillar tissue with a 0.2cm focus of non-keratinizing squamous cell carcinoma...No perineural or lymphovascular invasion identified. No carcinoma is seen in the remaining biopsies" This is really good news (and time to update my signature!)

The tumor board will review the results on Monday and make a recommendation (my guess is radiation.)

A few comments on pain:
I was totally unprepared for the pain and learned today the pain will be there for 6 weeks. I am taking oxycodone (5mg) every 4 hours and gabapentin (100mg) every 8 hours and it's very painful to swallow or eat anything. Pushing through as I know hydration and nutrition are the keys to healing. Really wish I didn't have to take a narcotic.

Anyway, just wanted to share my TORS experience. It has taken nearly 2 weeks to recover.

StefH