Hello,

First let me start off by letting everyone know how glad that I am that I stumbled accross this forum in my research. It is hard enough finding alot of information on Oral Cancer much less finding a community that is as supportive as this one seems to be. I have been lurking and reading posts for a couple of days and thought it was time I joined in.

My story is not unlike alot of the ones I have been reading on this forum. I had what appeared to be a cut on the right side of my tongue that I first noticed in August of 09. I had a cavity filled by the dentist in that area and when the novicaine wore off I noticed a small paiful cut, which seemed like at the time may have been a nick from the dentists drill. It was not very bad so I did not bother calling the dentist and just figured it would heal and go away. After several months of it feeling better at times and then worse at times it started to hurt constantly. A return trip to the dentist resulted in a referral to an oral surgeon so that he could check it out.

On 3/23/2010 I went to the oral surgeon who put me to sleep and surgically removed the area. He told me that while of course he was not sure that is was not cancer, it didn't appear to be and that I shouldnt worry. He sent the sample off Emory University Medical Center's Patalogy dept and told me he should have the results back in a couple of days. On 03/25/2010 I received "The" call from the oral surgeon that it was indeed cancer, SCC of the Right Lateral tongue. He gave me the phone number to Emory Hospitals Dept of Otolaryngolgy and three surgeons names who specialize in Cancers of the Head and Neck. I made the call and they were able to get me in for an appoinment on Friday 03/26/2010.

In the meantime I had already been doing quite a bit of research online, weeding through the information that I found, and learning as much as I could. I have always been the glass is half full type of person (and still am despite this). While I knew from my reasearch that what I would more than likely be going through in the coming months may not be the most pleasant experience of my life, it gave me comfort knowing that this can be beaten. My attitude about it all is that I can't change the fact that this has happened to me, but I know that if I keep a positive attitude and encourage those around me to keep a positive attitude it will make a tremendous difference in how I am able to deal with the treatments that are on the way.

My wife (who I love more than anything in the world) and I went to see the surgeon on Friday 03/26/2010. After a physical exam by his intern and then himself, and a review of the pathology report he was very positive and upbeat and said he did not see any reason that I should not be able to beat this and make a full recovery and be cancer free. His practice is pretty much limitied to the treatment of Head and Neck Cancer and the Hospital has a very coordinated cancer care program between the surgeon's, and the other Oncology Dr's that would be involved in my treatment. He said unfortunately he does not always get to give such a positive prediction on possible outcomes, so it made me feel even better that he felt that way.

He explained to me his recommended initial treatement plan. He would do a partial glossetomy with a pathalogist testing samples as he did the surgery until he was able to get clear margins, and also at the same time do a Modified Neck Dissection removing around 30 lymph nodes, to make sure that it had not spread to my lymph nodes. Based on the reseach I had done I agreeed to have the procedures done and the surgery is scheduled for 04/21/2010.

After the Surgery the hospitals "Cancer Team" will meet and review my case, results from the surgery, whether lymph nodes were involved, etc... and as a group determine what other treatments they think are necessary. He did say that he believed that there was a strong possibility that Radiation Therapy would be reccommended, and possibly, but probably not Chemo (unless they find something he is not expecting to find based on current known facts). I felt great comfort in the time he took answering questions and the fact Head and Neck Cancer is pretty much all he does. I went ahead and had my HN CT scan while I was at the hospital and have my pre-op hospital exam tommorow morning. In addition I have an appointment scheduled with the surgeon again on 04/16/2010 to go over any additional questions I have about the procedures and the results of the CT scan.

While I would be fooling myself if I said I was not nervous about the surgery and especially about the possible radiation treatments I must say that I have been able to keep my positive attitude, as I believe your state of mind can make a huge difference in how you respond to adversity. I am more worried about my wonderful wife and two great childern (2 boy's ages 7 and 15). We have explained it to my kids... Not in great detail but the fact that I have cancer and I am going to have to have surgery. To try and make things a little easier on them I told them now they can call me "Cancer Boy", but that they wont be able to call me that for long as I plan on getting rid of the cancer and then the name will have to go. I have also shown my wife this forum, and while there is alot of scary stuff on it, there is even more in the way of support, from what I see as a very positive and strong group of people.

That is my story... you will probably see me around here for a while with questions and then I am sure I will stick around so I that I can provide support to others who made need it in their time of need.

Thanks for being here,

Tommy aka "Cancer Boy"