I am very happy to hear yours is a stage 1 and very much hope you have a good surgeon.

Your wait time is reasonable.

Before I go into my situation, remember everyone is different! When I was first diagnosed with tonsil cancer on a thursday
(before easter weekend 2004) the ent I first went to scheduled me for surgery the following Tuesday...his plan was to remove my infected tonsil followed by radiation......sound good?

My tumor measured about 3 cm.

Over the weekend I researched surgery on this disease online and spoke with another physician's nurse by phone on monday, the day before my scheduled surgery.

She convinced me to go to her physician the next day
(I canceled my surgery with the other ent) as he was also an ent who ONLY did surgical oncology in the head and neck.

Further he was one of literally a handful of doctors in the world trained in the use of transoral laser microsurgery......a device that when used by skilled physician has shown to have a very good success rate at achieving negative margins.

I had to wait an additional 3 weeks.

By the time I was operated on he removed a tonsil tumor that had grown to 3.5cm and the cancer had spread to a node and and broke open to the soft tissue in my neck. That tumor was almost 5cm.

He also performed a neck dissection and removed 3 layers of nodes. I am glad of my decision because even though I waited an additional 3 weeks...I had chose the right surgeon who indeed achieved negative margins in my stage IV cancer.

I did have to have f/u radiation for possible microscopic disease
which I did and completed my treatment.

Thats another story....


to my soft tissue in my neck