Hello. My name is Walt. My wife's name is Pat. She is my sweetheart, soulmate, love of my life - the list goes on. Here's what happened to us.

We came down to Florida in early December 2006 to visit some of our kids. Between us we have five kids and four grandkids. Three of our kids and three of our grandkids live in Florida. And, as we've done for a few years we took an extended vacation so we could see them during the holidays and early new year.

Shortly after we arrived Pat mentioned a lump on the right side of her neck. It didn't hurt and she had no symptoms - no fever, aches, pains, etc. Since she wasn't feeling bad we decided to watch this lump for a couple of weeks and if it didn't improve we'd get it checked out.

About three weeks later (right after the new year) we went to a local General Practitioner who prescribed and antibiotic and said to come back in ten days. Ten days later the lump in her throat was unchanged and was actually somewhat larger. Next we were referred to a surgeon for a biopsy. He said this was an Ear/Nose?Throat issue and referred us to an ENT. The ENT order a CT scan to see if the lump was a salivary gland or a lymph node. At the time we first saw the ENT the lump in Pat's throat had grown to the size of a golfball. The CT scan showed it was an enlarged lymph node on the right side of her neck just below the ear. Next he did a needle aspiration biopsy. This came back as "inconclusive". Next he removed the lymph node. The result came back as a non small cell metastatic carcinoma. Next the ENT looked down her throat and found a squamous cell carcinoma about 2.5 cm at the base of the tongue on the right side.

Next we saw a Radiation Oncologist who said this wasstage 4a. (Actaul diagnosis is T1N2bMo)The Rad Onc said he wanted to do IMRT x 35 treatments over 7 weeks. We next saw the Medical Oncologist who said he wanted to do Erbitux once a week for seven weeks. Subsequent PET scan showed no further metastasis.

OK, fast forward. Pat had her first Erbitux induction last Monday. The treatment went fine but about four hours after we got back home she had a very severe headache which was followed by severe nausea and then vomiting. She was admitted to hospital the next morning with dehydration/fatigue, etc. Med Onc said he'd never seen a reaction like this before - go figure!! While in hospital they installed a PEG tube in preparation for radiation treatment. Pat had her second Erbitux treatment two days ago and it went fine - no issues, no side effects. We had the setup CT scan in preparation radiation today. Radiation starts next Monday.

Even though this is a long posting I've only given you the condensed version. But, I feel certain that many of you can relate from your own personal experience and you know all about the tears, the shock, the denial, etc.

Anyway, here it is mid March and we still haven't headed back up north to our home - so much for vacation huh? I'm not complaining because the kids are here and they are very helpful and supportive. It was meant to be that we discovered this here as opposed to back home.

So, that's my introduction. Pat and I are determined to trust the Lord no matter what. I just wish I could take this awful thing and bear it for her. We have a large number of folks praying for Pat and I and we can see the difference that makes. Anyway, hello to everyone. I'll keep you posted.