I am a 51 year old male. I am a college professor and an accomplished marathoner. I have three sons. Other than a few injuries along the way, I have been very healthy. I had some lymph nodes swell in the left of my neck and, after examination, had surgery to remove them. The tissue was squamous carcinoma.
I completed my first day of evaluation at M. D. Anderson in Houston on 1/4/2007. I can't say enough about the facilities and staff here. My doctors have scheduled my second surgery for Monday, Jan. 8. They will remove some glandular tissue and take multiple biopsies in an effort to locate the primary source of the carcinoma. The results of that surgery will determine the extent of therapies and treatments.

I had dinner with Hardy and Jeri Meredith last night. Hardy had an amazingly similar bout with carcinoma in the throat area in 2005. He and Jeri shared a detailed picture of what they went through. It was shocking and probably more information than I really wanted to deal with. But, as I have always said, the 'unknown' is the worst thing to deal with. Now that I know the process more intimately, I can begin to accept and pursue the best course.