you know i have read alot of stories on here about people and their cancer and some of them give me hope and some make me want to run from it all...all i want is for jim to get better... on one hand i want him to have the surgery he needs and on the other it scares me to know hes gonna be in pain and inmobile for a while...but im willing to take what ever it is life throws at us and help in any way i can..i love him and would do anything for him...

Barb, you've got a good guy there. He's doing the right thing...he's fighting. You're doing all that anyone could possibly do in the circumstance; standing by him.

I can tell you with absolute certainty if it weren't for my wife and kids in my corner for every round of my fight, I would have gone to the canvas early in the third round.

They kept me swinging through all 15, and I scored a TKO. There may be a re-match, but with my team behind me, how can I lose?

Be there in Jim's corner. It will make the difference, I truly believe that.

Have a good weekend
Wayne

Wayne,,,
glad to hear your battle is being won.. and yes i beleive that family and friends have alot to do with the fight..Jims got a good group of kids that will be there with him and me and my daughter are with him all the way..as he said before hes 71 and im gonna be 38 next week and he says he dosn't see what i see in him but i see alot in him hes a good man we have been together 4 1/2 yesrs..my daughter is 14 and she worries alot about Jim..she will come in the room and say "mom Jim dosn't look like he feels good,, i think you need to take him to the doctor or the hospital"... we are gonna do the fight and im glad we got people like all of you to help us thru...Jim came on this site first and of course i had to follow to see what its all about and im glad i did....HUGGGGGSSS TO ALL
Barb

Barb: My husband is almost 77 and I just turned 56! We have been together almost 27 years and they have been the very BEST years of my life! One of the traits I found most attractive was Buzz' strength. I have learned SO much from him over the years. He has been my 'rock' through two bouts of breast cancer, and helped me raise my boys into the successful men that they are now. I can relate to your loving Jim as you do. Now you and I must be the strong ones! Together, I believe we can do this!

Barb --

If possible try to get Jim to get another opinion at a cancer center where they see a lot of bulky, agressive and extensive disease. Take a plane trip if you need to.

For example when my husband Barry started treatment at Hopkins there was another fellow starting out, who had a large invasive tumor of his palate, tongue, roof of mouth with lymph node spread. He was having trouble swallowing and was already in pain. He went into a trial with a targeted therapy (Tarceva) with an induction phase of three weeks (as I recall) of daily Tarceva. At the end of the induction his tumor had shrunk 50%! He then received chemotherapy and radiation (cisplatin and IMRT) for the usual 7 weeks, which is when we saw him every day as he was on same schedule as Barry. He had been very despondent when he entered treatment but was much more optimistic as the days and weeks went on, though of course it was a very rough time (as it is for most).

Wish I knew how things turned out at the end for him but at least he gave it a real fight and the last time we saw him he said that his reports were looking good.

I would definitely try to get to a CCC (Sloan-Kettering, Anderson, Hopkins, Dana-Farber, Moffitt, Mayo and others) where they see lots and lots of head/neck cancer patients and also, lots of clinical trials for extensive or recurrent disease. (In fact I think a second opinion is needed in most cases, if only to give peace of mind that you have explored all options, we went to Sloan).

As many have posted this is not a nice disease and not a good way to go...

Gail

we are trying our best to get the second opinion.. just have to wait for a refferal from the family dr. and insurance to be able to go..i wonder if he does go to ohio state do they have to start the whole process over again with test and all that before they can do anything?

If it's anything like my husband's experience when he went for a second opinion at Hopkins, you will be asked to either send in advance or bring with you copies of everything that has been done so far -- CAT/PET/MRI scans, doctors' and hospital notes, biopsy results, etc. Hopkins also wanted an actual slice of the excisional biopsy for the pathologists there to examine and confirm the diagnosis. (Pathologists who deal only with head and neck cancers can often pick up on subtleties in the biopsy samples that others may miss.)

Check with Ohio State about what they want -- you can start pulling all that information together while waiting for your family doctor and insurance to process the referral.

All the best,
Leslie