Sore throat led to swelling, led to antibiotics, led to throat CT and ENT appointment, who said we can biopsy it or remove it. I opted for removal. They took left tonsil only saying pain would be bad enough removing just one and other tonsil looks normal. No previous history of tonsilitis.

SCC found in removed tonsil and in small area at base of tongue, both with HPV 16 presence. Neck CT showed no lymph node involvement. Chest CT found two small nodules in base of lungs, 8mm size, which they say are too small to reliably biopsy. So they want to do another chest CT in 4 months to see if growth occurs.

I haven't had an office visit since advanced pathology identified the HPV, so cancer has not yet been staged. But, they promise me radiation will likely be used.

That's about all I know for now. All this treatment has so far been at the VA hospital in Little Rock.

I did some reading on the OCF website before posting this and have already listed many questions for next office visit. Even on day 1 this website and forum has been unbelievably helpful...thanks to all who take the time to be involved.

Any suggestions, I'm all ears.

Wish me luck

Welcome to OCF, n74! Im glad you have found this site to help you get thru all the upcoming appointments, treatments, and your recovery. By reading the main OCF pages, you have probably gotten quite an education about OC and HPV just to name a few of the items you can learn about. Being an informed patient you will make a great advocate for yourself. Since your cancer is from HPV, you should fare better with response to treatment and less chance of recurrence.

Good luck with everything!

I would be surprised if they also don't recommend chemo along with the rad. Pretty standard form HPV+ SCC at this point.

Ditto what dave said it would be unusual to have no nodal involvement and lung nodules. Though I'm sure nothing is impossible. Hopefully they caught it early - though it sounds like you may have 2 primaries. Best of luck and read up on rads and chemo. It will help to be prepared.

Our fearless OCF leader and founder, Brian Hill, is ex-military and an avid pilot. You have common ground with him in more ways than one.

Welcome to the forums.

Thanks to all for responding. Your comments have helped me identify yet more questions to ask next office visit. Originally I was really bummed to find HPV involved, now I find maybe it's a blessing in disguise.

Welcome. I hope the recent events did not have an effect on your treatment at the VA. Good luck with everything.

Yes HPV+ responds better, Here is to hoping for early stage!

They haven't cancelled my 10 October appointment, so that tells me they are still open.

Thanks for your concern

Hello n74tg, another welcome from a relative newbie! HPV+ is indeed positive news. Have they done/are they planning PET scans as well? Hoping it is a very early stage!

As a side note, what swing dance styles do you do? East Coast/West Coast/etc.? I dabbled myself some,though my true love is reserved for ballroom dancing - I have been doing it competitively for many years, well it least this whole ordeal started.

Hello Ambra:

No pet scans yet, I haven't even talked to oncology yet, I suppose ENT is allowing me to heal from surgery some before starting that as I'm only 2+ weeks post surgery.

I have a Thursday ENT follow up, and thanks to OCF have about a thousand questions on my list. They may grow to hate OCF for creating patient advocate nightmares.

My passion is west coast swing, but my dance club does mostly east coast. I like ballroom, country western and latin too. I've competed a little but not much. Maybe one day we can dance. Since I've taught some, you can lead if you want.

Get well Ambra.

Had a good visit with the ENT today. He was pleased with my progress, good healing, no neck swelling (lymph nodes), appetite and diet back to normal, little to no pain. So he released me to oncology.

Tumor is staged as T2N0M0; about as good as I could hope for. Only bad news was after getting a printed copy of all my medical records I find the chest CT showed a 4cm aortic aneurism. That scared me, but ENT said to continue exercising normally and to discuss with PCP if still bothered (I am and I will).

The VA uses a tumor board approach. ENT said my case was presented on Monday to ENT, medical oncology, radiation oncology and surgery; all agreed radiation (but not chemo) is appropriate next step, that treatment to be six weeks of 5 days per week.

Then the really good news came when I returned home to an answering machine message asking if I wanted to do the rads locally instead of driving to Little Rock (1hr drive) daily. Of course was my answer.

So next week I should have my initial consult with radiation and then get started with treatment.

As I live about 8 minutes away from the treatment center I may not need any drivers.

Keeping fingers crossed.
Tony

Hello Tony,
Those are pretty good news! You RAD treatment sounds exactly the same as mine, and we might be starting around the same time too.

Having it done locally is great news as well. Mine will be done an hour drive away, and since I do not drive I will have to reply on my friends which is a complicated. So you are lucky that you do not have to deal with it.

I would ask your doctor the next time you see him/her about areas affected with radiation and if you might need a PEG tube. I don't know if they already discussed this with you, but radiation has really bad influence on teeth so you should visit your dentist now and deal with anything problematic before the treatment start. You should also get fluoride trays made.

And yes, we can maybe dance together one day. I can lead a little, though nothing fancy. I follow much better, I promise.

Good luck!

Ambra:
After release from ENT I went to radiation oncology to ask just those questions. They said that they didn't yet have my med file, so they wouldn't talk to me about anything. Just go home, sit tight, wait for us to call, then we'll talk about all those things.

I was just trying to get ahead of the curve a little in case dental work took longer than planned. I do have some amalgam fillings that may need replacing, unless of course they make me some shields to solve that problem. But the fluoride trays, that's likely something I will get regardless of what they say.

I think I want our first dance to be a waltz, and only us on the dance floor, just like in competition, all eyes on one couple. We can boogie with swing later. "Shall We Dance" is one of my favorite movies. Now if you'd rather do that "Buenos Aires, Argentina" whatever dance that is called, I need some practice first.

Have a great weekend Ambra
Tony

I think IMRT may cancel out the back scatter with opposite beams, something like that, but ask the RO. Good luck.

When I had my IMRT they told me that the "splashing" would be minimal, luckily I passed the dental with flying colors (even still have wisdom teeth). Make sure those fluoride trays don't collet dust. My Dental oncologist told me not to worry if in the middle of treatment it gets too hard to use them. That they were really going to be of best use after treatment.(for the rest of your life).
Tony best of luck with the radiation. So a closer Rad center that's great Tony! So one more fun thing before your first zaps. The incredibly form fitting mesh type mask for comfort. NOT. I hated that thing but got ust to it just in time to finish my last week of treatment. Oh that reminds me of something. If you lose weight during treatment like I did. And if that mask starts to feel a bit loose. you must speak up! They will probably talk to you about this, but my Radiation tecs. did not. I had to tell them. And they made some minor adjustments. Just a heads up. You do not want any wiggle room.As the beams may not hit their exact mark if you should move the slightest bit while being zapped!

Shawn.

Thanks Ambra and Shawn

I've jotted all the suggestions down in my notebook that goes with me to every doctor visit.

Both of you, and all of you at OCF, have a great weekend.

Now, where is that tailgate party.

Tony

Had my initial consult with radiation oncologist today. He showed up with a file 2" thick on me. He had already read surgery and pathology reports and viewed my neck CT. He also drew some different conclusions from what I'd read and thought I'd been told by surgeon and ENT docs.

First off, they did a tonsilectomy, but they didn't go all the way to clear margins. That would have been an 11 hour surgery (I was under an hour at most). so they didn't get all the cancer.

He also found one lymph node (same side as SCC tonsil) that was enlarged to 1cm+ in smallest axis. So he restaged me as T2N1.

And finally, he said that the mouth dryness (ie loss of salivary function) from radiation would in all likelihood be permanent despite the fact that they do use the IMRT approach.

I'm pretty sure I was told a whole different set of things by surgeon and ENT staff (ie we feel we got all the cancer in surgery, no lymph node involvement). Part of me asks was I misled, or did I mis-understand what was said.

Regardless, radiation treatment is still in my future, 33 treatments (not 30 as originally said). My simulation occurs this morning where I'll get my mask built.

For you experienced cancer fighters, I'm interested in your take on all this.

Tony

WOW! That was an eye-opener!!!

I cant believe one doc says you had one lymph node involved and the other says there were none. Thats just not right!!! From what you said, it sounds like you are not being treated at a CCC. At a CCC you would have a team of doctors who all work together and meet to discuss each individual case so everyone is on the same page. At this point, your treatment team is already in place so switching wouldnt be an easy option.

I suggest you get copies of all your tests and detailed appointment notes from every single office visit from every doc. I would then sit down with the whole mess and try to review it to better fully understand where you are at. If that happened to me, I would have begun asking a million questions right there and gotten to the bottom of my health status. You have to speak up and be your own advocate. Remember those doctors work for you. Having you medical records makes things so much easier if you ever want to switch doctors.

Good luck with the mask today!

I seriously doubt that you will loose ALL salivary functions from the rad Tx. You will, like the vast majority of us, loose some but IMO not all. I lost most of my saliva shortly after rad but I estimate that I regained appx 90% of my saliva but it did take all of 2 years for that to occur.

No mention of chemo? With a positive or at least a thought to be positive node I'm surprised that chemo wasn't suggested concurrent with the rad.

Tony,

The side of your mouth/throat that you have the tumor on will receive the most bombardment during radiation tx. That side will probably have more damage with regard to your salivary function. The other side should be less damaged and will hopefully pick up some of the slack when you start healing over several months to years.

That has been our experience here...Bill's saliva is pretty good now. He has trouble with food sticking in the right upper side of his mouth (between gum and cheek) while he eats but for the most part, he has adequate salivary function. I think you probably need to focus more on swallowing...that seems to be the function that is more affected during and after treatment longterm.

Everything is subject to change, and often doctors may not agree on evertyhing, and there are different types staging, restaging, from clinical, pathological and surgical. The surgeons sometimes don't know the extent of surgery until they get in there, and if they can't get it all without clear margins, is more extensive, they will take out what they can, and leave the rest for chemoradiation or radiation. The BOT has deep musculature, not just surface, contained like the tonsil, and removing a tumor from there can be debilitating. As mentioned, get a copy of your medical records for your own file. I'm surprised no chemo either, and only 33 rads, not 35, but depends on the delivery method, Gy, fractions too. As for IMRT, and the salivary glands, IMRT has dose painting, and can avoid that structure, and usually keep the dosage under 30Gy, usually around 26Gy, to the salivary glands, to protect it, anything higher may permanently destroy it being over its total toxicity level. Are both sides, bilaterally, being treated? That makes a difference too if one side is not treated with rads. With HPV it seems some are reducing chemo, radiation, but not everyone is.

Good luck.

David and Deb:

Thanks for your remarks about salivary function. I do believe RO said yesterday that right side radiation won't be as intensive as left side, so maybe some salivary glands will be spared.

Now as for concurrent chemo; RO said yesterday he is not recommending it right now, but don't rule it out either. I think he may just wants to watch that lymph node and see how it responds to rads before commiting to chemo.

Thanks for caring guys, it really helps.

Got to go, it's off to simulation appointment.

Tony

I assume they will be radiating both sides of your neck.

Okay I have to ask what Christine asked... Are you being treated at a CCC? From what I understand you are T2N1 and you do not have clear margins. To me that indicates you should in fact have chemo and rads. Chemo is meant to soften up the tumor so when rads hits it it will cook it nicely. Chemo also - while not able to kill the actual tumor is effective on microscopic cancer. I would definitely push for the chemo and ask why not (I imagine there could be mitigating health issues but I would still want a specific answer)

good luck.

Ditto to what Cheryl says.

I started with induction chemo with TPF then followed by chemo and rads. There will never be a day that I second guess if all the bases were covered and treatment was aggressive as possible without literally killing or maiming me.

The logic went induction chemo would immediately start on the tumors (BOT primary and multiple lymphs) which it did. After each infusion, there was obvious visible reduction in the neck mass. The final report stated near or complete resolution. So we did as much as possible the got the best possible results. I felt if there was any loose micro cancers the chemo killed it off.

Next rads would blast and direct kill the primary and neck nodes, assisted by the carboplatin. Again, this treatment was given all guns blazing and I feel it killed the tumor mass cancers.

Carbo during radiation improves the performance of the rads and at least to me might kill off any micro cancers still hiding out.

The combination is one I feel should be given nearly all the time, if nothing else, peace of mind for the rest of your life that you treated as aggressively as possible and never have any doubts or second guessing.

Okay, let me try to answer your questions/concerns.

Yes, I have a copy of all my medical records except for most recent office visits. I will get those shortly.

No, I am not being treated at a CCC of which there are none in Arkansas and I am unable to move to another state at this time to get to one.

The VA is the only medical coverage I have. To abandon them at this point is not an option as that puts me into the pay as you go group for what I figure is exorbitantly expensive (potentially bankrupting) treatment.

The RO says he sees one enlarged lymph node (about 1cm size) on same side as tumor. He says it's "of interest", but obviously not of enough interest to require a biopsy or chemo at this time. He did say to not rule out chemo in the future, but right now we are going to start radiation.

He is a Radiation Oncology Diplomat of the American Board of Radiology and has being doing radiation oncology for over 20 years, so I don't feel I'm working with a newbie. No, I haven't yet looked up what a Diplomat level experience level signifies. It could indicate anything from a brand new member, all the way up to highly experienced, highly respected. If you guys know anything particular, I'd like to know.

Christine and I have discussed this a little already. One thing she mentioned has kind of stuck with me, and that is do you have confidence in your doctors. If you do, then continue down this road, if not then change something.

I have only met with this RO once for my initial consult. Yes, he brought up that he didn't necessarily agree with everything I thought I had been told by ENT and surgery staff (who are at a different hospital). He could easily have withheld his disagreement and just parroted what they all said. Had he done that I would feel more comfortable, but if they were wrong in any way I wouldn't know it. So, I'm actually glad he disagreed as in essence he has given me a 2nd opinion. While I don't like having to now determine who is right, who is wrong, what do I do next, I would much rather know about it right now than a year down the road when maybe the cancer has spread and become much more dangerous.

So, I guess the bottom line as of today is yes I have confidence in this RO and I'm going to stick with his recommendations for at least the short term.

I will ask him next visit why he doesn't recommend chemo or biopsy right now and what is he looking for to change that recommendation.

Any other questions you think I should ask, I'm all ears.


thanks guys for caring

Tony

IMO if chemo is going to be considered it should be considered concurrently with the rad not if the rad doesn't work.

I never did hear you say if they planned to radiate both sides of the neck.

I understand your situation with the VA but if you were being seen by most any CCC they would be radiating both sides of your neck and recommending concurrent chemo/rad even with the HPV confirmation so I might be pushing them a tad harder. Remember your RO is not an MO. JM2C's

For all that it is worth, I am also T2N1, treated at a good CCC (Johns Hopkins), and I will be also receiving rads only, no chemo. Not 100% sure, but pretty certain they also mentioned radiating one side of my neck only.

I will admit that it makes me nervous, especially when reading here that the more aggressive treatment should be pursued, but I am trying to let go and trust my medical team, otherwise I will go crazy.

Ive sent you a PM with more info. When fully explained, the situation appears to be much different than what I first understood. This changes what I would advise.

Even though Ambra's situation may "on paper" appear similar, its really a whole different world away. Every single patient is a new case and varies sometimes only slightly from other patients. In this situation since I dont see Ambra as listing HPV+ as part of her signature then her disease is completely different than Tony's an cant be used for comparison.

Your doc sounds like they are on the ball and being very thorough. I like how they were not afraid to speak up and review everything with you instead of being a parrot. That shows their integrity.

I wouldnt rule out chemo, maybe seek out a MO and hear what they have to say. Besides that, put your trust in your doc and try to stay busy and not second guess everything. Dont let cancer teal this time away from you, go out and live your life, all too soon your health situation will change and you wont feel quite so good so do everything now.

Best wishes!

Christine, my cancer is HPV positive and it does say so in my signature line.

Nevertheless, I completely agree with you on the rest of your points,every patient is indeed different. I only mentioned my case here as I didn't find too many other ones here where rads only without chemo were given. It has given me a great deal of anxiety and I can imagine other people in similar boat might feel the same.

On the other hand, I know that my case was presented in front of a medical board/pannel which included MOs. So also agree that Tony should probably at least seek a MO to see what they say.

My understanding is that my case was also presented before a panel that included an MO as well as RO, surgeon and ENT doc. The entire group signed off on radiation (without chemo) as being next appropriate step in my treatment.

Yes, I will receive radiation on both sides, and have been told by RO that off-side rads will be lighter than on-side.

thanks for caring enough guys to answer.

Everyone, have a great day.

Tony

P.S. Ambra, dance club has a Halloween Costume party Friday night. I'm going as a football ref willing to take a bribe/payoff to help Arkansas win at least one more football game this season. That should stir them up.

Opps! Sorry Ambra, I didnt see it but yes its there. My old age is showing.

I think the difference between some of the other non chemo scenarios is that you still have positive margins. The other T2N1 may not have. This definitely makes a difference.

hugs and take care.

Plus Ambra had TORS, Selectve Neck Dissection.

Tony, hope you have a great time at the Halloween dance. Your costume sounds awesome. I am staying away from those this year, I have kept this away from my dance community. Although I would make a bit (too) realistic Frankenstein bride with my huge neck scar!

No worries Christine. I have been missing too many things myself lately at the ripe old age of 36.

This is gonna sound bizarre - Last week after the initial radiation consult and simulation the "strep throat" returned with a vengeance. I was still on antibiotics (augmentin) and symptom free for like 6 days when here it comes again.

So it's off to docs office who says this time we do a culture because if it was strep then augmentin should have cured it.

Two days later throat culture results says nothing grew, so it could be
1. viral in nature, 2. something related to the cancer. Sit tight over the weekend, give the culture two more days to grow in case it was a slow grower. We'll get final culture report on Monday.

Whoa, what do you mean related to the cancer. Nurse practioner said we reviewed your path report from surgery and they used the word invasive to describe your cancer. I also remember reading the words moderately differentiated which I didn't take to be positive. Combine those two phrases and the imagination can easily start to go wild.

So, of course all this happens late on Friday afternoon, so nothing much can be done until Monday morning.

Now, let's throw one more monkey wrench into the equation. My dentist wants to remove my last wisdom tooth prior to radiation. It's the lower left wisdom tooth, the one immediately adjacent to tumor site. I've never had any trouble with this tooth in past. Next week is earliest I can get it removed. Dentist says we need at least two weeks recovery before rads begin. So, now we're looking even further down the road to finally get to start treatment for an invasive, moderately differentiated tumor. That's roughly 2 months from initial surgery to beginning of rads.

Would you be worried?

Hi Tony,

I am sorry to hear about these stressful developments.

Not sure what the whole throat thing means. As for the teeth, two weeks wait is pretty standard from teeth extraction to rad commencement. They did remove all of my wisdom teeth, though the one adjacent to the tumor site was already long gone. The molar next to it has a small filling and they said they need to watch it very carefully.

Hope you manage to relax a bit and do something nice this weekend.

Hi all
I also had rads only after a neck dissection, I also quizzed my oncologist about chemo after same discussion on forum which our old friend charm participated in. oncologists response was due to small tumour and neck dissection results ( clear margins) the added help +- 4% of chemo on a hpv+ scc versus, the side effects of chemo didn't justify having it. My oncologist is the head of the department in Victoria
I am currently seven months out from end of treatment which was much easier then expected, back to pretty much normal
Hope you and ambra enjoy your weekend make sure you eat your favourites as they aren't fibbing about loosing your taste for a bit.

Best of luck. Ken

Moderately differentiated relates to aggressiveness - the closer the cancer looks to your normal cells the more aggressive it can be. Poorly differentiated = highly aggressive, moderately is exactly what it sounds like! and well differentiated is the least aggressive. Invasive means it is not superficial it has moved into the surrounding tissue and has depth. I would not let them remove your wisdom tooth. Firstly they would be messing with an area that may still have some microscopic cancer opening you up cutting that area is bloody and to me just gets it moving, secondly (I had radiation to my tongue and both sides of my neck and they did not remove any of my 3 impacted wisdom teeth) it has never bothered you, and thirdly the wait time is too long.

The potential problem with leaving it is if you do have problems later in life with your wisdom tooth, having it removed can be a major issue with your jaw. But that goes for all teeth not just wisdom teeth.

I'm sure someone else will be around to give you there opinion.

Hugs and good luck

Just returned from Dana-Farber (CCC) in Boston for dental consult in H & N cancer department. This dentist works almost exclusively with oral cancer patients. I will write a more detailed summary later, but regarding wisdom teeth, which is my husband's immediate problem, this was her advice:

Current guideline is that heathy teeth are NOT removed prior to rad. The decision regarding wisdom teeth is less clear. If a wisdom tooth has never been a problem in the past, it is usually left alone. If there have been flare-ups in the past, it should probably be removed before tx.

As Cheryl pointed out, extractions prior to rad, run the risk of delaying cancer treatment, especially if complications develop. This dentist sees 3-4 patients a week with infected/damaged teeth post rad. Not just wisdom teeth, but all teeth (especially molars) are at risk.

One comment on aggressiveness: One of my docs told me that most hpv positive disease was poorly differentiated and it doesn't have much significance for hpv positive disease vs hpv negative.

I would get a 2nd opinion from a dental oncologist re the extraction. Most prefer to remove teeth (that need to be removed) before radiation so the BIG ? is does it need to be removed. if you are going to need to have it removed sometime in the near future I would get it done now.

Okay guys here's an update:

Wisdom tooth will NOT be removed. When dentist checked the margins she said it had improved over past visits, so in light of everything else she can live with not removing it. She also took an x-ray of the tooth and was satisfied with it's under gumline appearance. We did make the fluoride trays, they will be ready Thursday so I can pretreat for about 4 days prior to onset of rads.
She also gave me about a dozen 2oz sample bottles of old formula Biotene dry mouth rinse and gel, the formula with lactoferrin, lysosome and sweetened with xylitol.

That means rads start on schedule, Monday, Nov 4th, a big relief as I still don't like my tumor path description...invasive and moderately differentiated.

In every piece of good news there also lies the bad (how's that for Zen duality Bart). After letting the throat culture grow for 4 days (two 48 hour periods), nothing has grown, ie infection is not bacterial in nature, that's why augmentin didn't work. So, it's likely viral and only thing we can do is let it run it's course. I've asked, there are no anti-virals to treat this. I know she got a good culture sample as I could see the green @#$% on the swab myself.

So, my week 3 treatment symptoms (sore throat, but not dry mouth) started 2 weeks prior to first rads, ain't life great! Let's hope it cures out prior to rads so I can get at least a little of the honeymoon period.

This too shall pass.

Tony

Good to hear rads will start when they were originally scheduled.

Fingers crossed that your throat improves real soon.

Yeah! Good luck.

You've got the idea, Tony, perfect attitude.

The ability to see the humor in the darkest of situations indicates perfect mental health. You will float through this as long as you keep that attitude!

And with this post, you've made my day! Thanks, Compadre!

Thanks Bart, Cheryl, Ambra; always good to hear from you.

The viral infection symptoms just got worse and worse, hurt all the time, wanted to sleep but couldn't; so called the clinic to discuss. They hooked me up with an ENT appointment this morning.

The doc said whatever green crud was there at time of culture is gone, throat is clear, surgery site looks to be healing normally with some granular tissue present but explainable since all the tumor wasn't removed.

He asked if I was having any fever (none) and noticing no swelling in the area concluded all my pain and misery is caused by the tumor tissue itself. He actually used the term angry tumor (don't laugh). Best course of action at this point is start rads on schedule Monday and take these really good pain pills I'm going to give you so you can sleep at night (but don't drive). He also gave me a bottle of chlorhexidine gluconate to use on the teeth.

I guess I'm satisfied as I can't argue with any of the things he said. I did ask if it could have been staph to which he replied it would have grown on the culture and thus been identified.

If you guys know anything that I obviously don't please speak up.

thanks
Tony

P.S. Oh, and I got my fluoride trays today also, really comfortable. Dentist says I can sleep in them if desired to better treat the teeth. Any reason not too?

I am not laughing at all at the angry tumor. Makes total sense.

Well, at least they seem to have a better idea of what might be going on. I am very curious to hear what you are told about sleeping with the trays.

Hope you have a nice weekend and manage to relax before Monday.

Tony
.......so funny you mention an angry tumor! The day before my surgery, my surgeon looked at my tongue and commented that my tumor was looking especially angry. I commented back that of course it is.....it's being evicted tomorrow! LOL.

Never heard anyone recommend keeping the fluoride trays in while sleeping. I'm not a fluoride scientist but I do know that I only kept them in for 30 mins before I went to sleep and I have had zero teeth issues 7 years post Tx so only 30 mins worked for me.

Good morning all. Sometimes it's worthwhile to go back and re-read the whole thread start to finish. I did that this morning; and was stricken with how things change over time. Who would have known any of this would go the direction it did, who could have ever predicted this particular set of twists and turns traveling down Cancer Boulevard.

Re-reading did remind me of questions I need to ask the RO tomorrow when I get my first rads. Questions about why has he chosen rads only and not rads with chemo; why has he adopted a wait and see attitude about this enlarged lymph node as opposed to a biopsy right now. And since his staff did another neck CT as part of simulation process has he looked at that lymph node in comparison to original CT done roughly 6 weeks ago.

I have to thank you guys for giving me the needed push to get these answers. It's very easy to just sit back and let the doctors do their thing and in the process never get your questions answered. Or you can listen to the patient advocate training that this group does so well and not let those opportunities to ask questions pass.

But I suppose mostly what I want to share is appreciation and thanks for getting to meet such an outstanding group of people, from the technical knowledge of the Christine's, Cheryl's and David's to the how to prepare your mind to handle this battle from Bart and the just plain friendship and warmth of people like Ambra. It has made this journey into the unknown way more comfortable than it would've been otherwise. I don't ever fear what is around the next turn as I know one of you will be standing waiting for me to arrive and pointing out the right direction.

Thank you all dearly. I just hope I can help others as you have helped me.

Tony

Good luck with rads I'm sure you'll do fine through it. As for the non biopsied node he's probably thinking I'm throwing it in the cooker anyway so it will be nice and toasty regardless, assuming he has included it in the radiated area I would leave it as rads will likely take care of it... ZZZZZzzzzap! The chemo I am curious about as well. It softens any lurking cancer so it's worthwhile. Hugs

Tony,

I can understand why you feel Christine and Cheryld are cold hearted but me????? lol

Good luck with the treatment and rest assured we will be here 24/7 to help any way we can.

Hello All:

Since I had first radiation treatment today:

I am beginning a new thread in Currently in Treatment.

Same title, but add a "2" ie Old B-52 Bombardier #2.

Please follow me over there, at least that's how I think this forum is supposed to work.

I won't generally be posting to this thread anymore.

Tony