Hello everyone,

Thanks for all your suggestions/input. Frankly, I've been "fried" for quite a while. My doctor (the surgeon who operated on me) has changed his mind three times in the last month and a half. He went from telling me the pathology report is clean and that nothing else was needed, to telling me that there is micro cancer in one of my lymph nodes and hence I need radiation, to telling me that others have told him that radiation might be too much and that his recommendation might have been overly aggressive and unwarranted. As I also said in my previous post, even the radiology oncologists seemed rather unconvinced about radiation--it's ultimately a "judgement call."

In short, making a decision is taking long not because of some capricious tendency on my part, but because I've been given mixed messages.

With respect to Glenn's question, it is a good one. It's something I would like to know myself. How many people with micro cancerous cells in one node who avoided radiation have done well? As far as I know, the research varies. Some studies find that radiation is a good idea, other studies suggest that radiation is overkill and of no real benefit.

I can say I am a candidate for IMRT radiation, and, judging from the feedback, the effects might not be that dramatic.

I'm in the process of scheduling an appointment at Anderson for a second opinion. Please, if anyone has been treated there and cares to recommend a particular doctor, let me know.

Gino