I have just been tentatively diagnosed with SCC on the base of my tongue. I have the biopsy tomorrow and wll know for certain on Monday. I am considerering MD Anderson in Houston (I live in California) Would appreciate any comments on their program or any others I might investigate and info on the logistics involved of seeking treatment away from home. I am a recent widower and as such have no problems going elsewhere but also no one to go with me. yaegerjr@aol.com

Joe,
I am from Houston, Texas and was treated for a base of tongue tumor and neck nodes at M.D. Anderson. Brian Hill, the OCF founder is from California and also chose to be treated at MDACC. As Brian can tell you the social workers at MDACC can arrange for apartments and /or motels with shuttle buses to take you back and forth for radiation treatment.
M.D.Anderson is a highly rated cancer hospital that handles tons of head and neck cancer cases.
(Just came out today thatMDACC was rated the best cancer hospital in USA for the third time in four years .)
These folks have seen problems like yours over and over and know how to treat them. They eradicated my tumor and nodes with radiation and a little bit of chemo.

Having said that, remember that MDACC is a public institution, part of the University of Texas system, and they run a whole lot of people through that place. Be prepared to wait long periods at times to see your doctors or for CT scans, etc. The doctors and staff treat so many people that at times it seems that they may not follow up on your situation as personally as one might want. For example, I still have some swallowing problems and have been through two or three swallow studies but no speech pathologists ( in charge of swallow studies ) or dieticians call me unless I call them. I have heard of other stories from Memorial Sloan Kettering, for example where the nurse called the guy constantly to check on his swallowing and eating.

So, there you have it. They know their stuff and how to treat the problem. There are resources available, many of them free, through the social workers, such as free psychological counseling, etc, but you have to pursue those things yourself..the medical staff is unlikely to mention any of it to you. If you choose MD Anderson you will get very good treatment, but not always the most personal or convenient.
At least that has been my experience. I am sure that you will hear from others who have been treated there as well.

Danny G.
You can write me at [email protected] if you want to discuss this further.

The City of Hope, in Los Angeles, is the closest NCCN member in your area. Maybe persons having been treated there would like to comment. Not knocking MD Anderson CCC by any means. There is also Stanford and UCSF, Mt. Zion CCC in Northern California.

See: http://www.nccn.org/

Gary Allesbrook, read that you and I had the same cancer in the same location. My tumor was removed surgically, and also had a neck dissection, whereby 25 lymph nodes were removed, but luckily, very luckily only two closest to he tumor were affected. I went thru radiation for 6 weeks which knocked me flat on my back and was a nightmare and had to have a feeding tube put in. That is now out and I am eating however it still is painful to swallow, and I still get enormously fatigued. How about you? Also I have no saliva( areal bear to handle) What about you?