Been reading this site for several months now and decided to participate. First of all, this is an incredible site and I wish I would have found it 5 months ago. I had surgery on my tongue, T3, moderately differentiated, on 11/28/2006. They also removed 12 lymph nodes in the neck, all were clear. The main reason I finally decided to participate was to give encouragement to many of you facing surgery and/or radiation. I realize I may be the exception to the rule but, the process went incredibly well for me. I have been mostly pain free throughout surgery and radiation. The process for me has been much more annoying than painful. I drove myself all 6 weeks to radiation and although I did lose my taste after 3 weeks and was extremely tired, I never was nauseated and only had 1 mouth sore throughout the process.
I do have a moderate case of drymouth and 2 months after completing radiation, my taste is slowly but surely coming back. I maintained my exact weight throughout, had no problems eating or swallowing. Once again, I hope y'all don't think I am gloating, I really just want people to know that there is hope and radiation is not always as bad as advertised. I know I was extremely lucky and thank God dailey. It's odd but, I am having a much harder time post treatment although, I know that is common. It's kind of like I was actively fighting a battle when I was going through treatment and now all I do is sit around and wait for rechecks. Oh well, that's enough for now. You folks are great and inspirational and although I would rather not be part of this fraternity, at least I know I am in good company.

Welcome!

Wow. I am sure that I can speak for many here saying how lucky you are. Some had things much worse than others, but as you know very few had as trouble-free a time as you seem to have had.

I agree with you about post treatment. I find that it seems to take forever to see significant changes, and I'd like it to happen "right now".

If anything, it's teaching me patience!
Wayne

Welcome Lamont

WOW! Is correct..What hospital did you go to? I'm about to get started (I Think)...I have relatives in Georgia. I sure would like to go to your hospital and have your Dr. I have been trying to get help (no insurance). Everything seemed like a go. I've been on TV and in the papers. Now my journey hit another snag. Unbelieveable...I may go up to Georgia and fall down and not get up at your hospital.Please tell me your hospital. PeteyB

I went to Emory here in Atlanta. I only live about 20 miles away. My radiologist was Dr. Davis. The staff there is awesome, very upbeat. This may sound wierd but, I actually looked forward to it. Emory is an excellent hospital and has all the latest equipment. Radiation was actually semi-optional for me but, everyone I talked to, including Dr.s and cancer survivors said go for it. I am not much of a gambler and the stakes were simply to high. Now I'm glad I did. If it turns out you get your treatment here, let me know. I would be more than happy to help out with transportation, or anything else that may be needed.

Thank you for your post. I am just getting ready for radiation and had a terrible time getting the mask to fit right after first appointment. I hope that I have to side effects during radiation. Thanks again for your post it brings some hope that it might be easier than it sounds.

Hey Lamont,

I am also a graduate of the Emory Winship Cancer Center. Also had Dr. Davis, Dr. Shin as MO and Dr. Amy Chen as ENT. Actually, I still have all of these folks with quarterly visits for now. They are quite impressive and at least so far did a great job on me.

Sounds as though you are a bit closer as it was/is an 83 mile round trip for me but well worth it!

Good luck with follow-ups!

Bill D.

Thanks William. My MO was Dr. Grist. Where do you live in Georgia?

Lamont ,


How wonderful it is to hear that you made it through without much ill side effects ...NICE! I didnt do rad and chemo , but my surgery was ok .I just had my tonsils out and that was WAY WAY worse then the BIG surgery !! But ya know we all make it through one way or another , I am just glad you could share your experience on here to let people know that maybe they can get through easier !