I hope this is the proper way to post an Intro on this site. I had my surgery on 2/1/03 and came throught the radition that followed like a champ thanks to the prayers from friends and family. My hope here is that I can locate some individuals that are further down the road of survival to discuss my side effects and fears.

I have been diagnosed as follows:
SCC, Left tonsil, stage 4, one large positve node, radical neck, radiation.

I would like to thank Terry Zane for refering me to this VALUABLE webite.

Hi Dave, well, I'm a little further along. I finished radiation in June of 02. Feel free to
e-mail me anytime. You sound positive and are looking share info. Some folks don't want to know any "bad" stuff, and that's fine. I prefer to learn all there is to know about treatment, side effects, prognosis, everything.
O-O

Hi Dave, I am sure you have come to the right place here to get a lot of support and experience sharing.My case is very much similar to yours with left tonsil cancer met.to left neck lymph nodes. It was diagnosed as stage 4B cancer in 9/01. I have survived after intensive radiation and chemotherapy. No neck surgery. E-mail me direct if you want to hear more about my story.

Karen stage 4 tonsil caner diagnosed in 9/01.

We should start a left tonsil sub-group here, Brian can you spare the other 12 hours in your day? Dave, I was stage 4 LEFT tonsil, 2 nodes involved with minor tongue involvement. I completed the whole deal(surgery and radiation) on 12/23/2002. Like you, I got through the radiation pretty well. So well it worried me. I figured if it didn't really mess me up maybe it didn't mess the cancer up enough, know what I mean? I'm over that now and feeling great. I'm approaching the one year from diagnosis point and please feel free to contact me if you think I may be of any help.

Glenn

Glenn, I understand exactly what you mean because I have the same feeling. I always wonder if my illness had been fully treated by the radiation and chemotherapy I underwent. People around including myself are amazed at how well I have recovered from my treatment. I could go back to my previous job 7 months post treatment and now I go swimming for an hour after work every day ( on both very cold and hot days)without feeling tired. My husband always said that I look much healthier than before I was diagnosed with cancer. I told my oncologist that if not for the dry mouth and loss of taste, I would have thought that I had never had the big C in my life.The anxiety of recurrence is still with me but it has been gradually lessened as time goes by.I really hope that all stage 4 cancer fighters on this forum can be as lucky as me, if not luckier.

Karen stage 4 tonsil cancer diagnosed in 9/01.

Hi, Gang.
I am another left tonsil cancer guy. Stage 4 and 4 lymph nodes involvement, I went through surgery, radiation and concurrent chemo. Treatment ended Nov 2002, but the recovery process was slow as well as up and down. I think my surgery was quite aggressive, I saw others reported that 20 or 30 lymph nodes were removed during the neck dissection. Then, I went through my operation report noticiing that there were more than 70 nodes removed from my left neck (yes ! one side). I am nor complaining anything, I think this probabally the reason that it took longer for me to recover.

Does anybody know how it is determined how may nodes must be removed? My husband (another stage 4 left tonsil guy) had 18 nodes removed.

Anita

My husband was stage 4 tonsil cancer, but the right tonsil, not the left. He finished treatment 7-00, that makes him a three year survivor, yeah! He did not have a neck disection, just the first surgery that found the cancer and then radiation. He is doing great three years later, so hang in there everyone!
Julie

Anita,

My understanding is that the actual number of nodes removed is dependant on how invasive your Surgeon/Doctors feel your dissection should be. I had 27 nodes taken out during what I believe is called a functional neck dissection. The more they take the more invasive the surgery. So if someone had a lot of nodes removed it would involve more collateral damage as in the case of a radical neck dissection. I have not experienced any range of motion issues on the dissected side where someone who had a radical dissection might.

Glenn

Julie and everyone else,
These recent posts with positive stories are coming at a good time for me. My husband goes in for a complete body CT scan and blood tests tomorrow and I have been really nervous about it for several days. This "watchful waiting" stuff is really hard.

Thanks,
Anita

I know that they "harvested" (surgical term for took it) a lot of Nodes during my radical neck dissection. I never have thought about the count! I just remember them saying that all of them are going on leftside of the neck and some down lower on the top of my shoulder blade. What I do recall is that the one node with the met. had a positive margin . I have lost range of motion as a result of the surgery because they also "Harvested" my accessory nerve, but I will still be playing volleyball because I hit with my right. Yah!!!

I have a bone scan tomorrow, no problem / no pain!! But as usually a little short in the breath until I get the results. Have already had a clean PET though!

All for now, hang in there every one and thanks for being there, here, in cyberspace. Bye