Hi. My name is Sean, and after visiting the site a few times to gather information, I decided to register and introduce myself. I am a 40 y/o male, active duty Army, recently returned from Iraq in February. I am a non-smoker and occasional social drinker. I was referred to ENT after seeing the docs with what I thought was a very painful cold sore on the right side of my tongue, I was diagnosed with stage 2 SCC. I had surgery last month (partial glossectomy and neck dissection on the right side). I lost a little less than half of my tongue. Pathology showed I had cancer in one of the 16 lymph nodes they removed from my neck. Monday 8/24 I go in to have a PEG and port put in, then I start 6 weeks of rad therapy and 3 chemo sessions (Cisplatin). Being in the Army, I go to Tripler Army Med. Center here in Honolulu, and I can say so far these folks are the best medical folks I have ever dealt with. They have every clinic you could ask for right here. My wife is my caregiver, she is a nurse and has been very supportive and loving through this whole ordeal. We want to make it through this treatment and I want to recover to stay in the Army (22 years and I am not ready to call it quits yet!)
If there are any other military folks that here, I welcome any advice (or advice from anyone else as well!). I am quite nervous because I am being told by everyone this is going to be a very tough treatment. But my wife and I have faith we will get through it.