Nate,

Many of us here had a Stage IV diagnosis from the beginning and with us, surgery would have been a last dash effort (aka "salvage") because the tumor was so large and had invaded a lot of tissue. Also, you have to know that even without a positive node biopsy, micro mets can occur without being detectable, hence the need for chemo and radiation.

I say all this to say that so far (three years out), even with no surgery, the chemo and radiation seem to have conquered Bill's cancer. If you have good ROs, they will know how to hit all the areas that might have mets...that is why the treatment is so brutal...it hits such a wide range of important body parts.

I am not diminishing the mental aspect of this but please understand that the most "Cancer Killing" aspect of your treatment regimen is coming up. Some of the sweetest words came from our RO at the end of Bill's treatment. "We got it," he said, with a lot of confidence. Of course, he can't know this for sure but, so far, so good.

Your last video, by the way, and this is coming from a Mom who notices stuff, was very upbeat and your speech was so much improved even from a week ago. I was thrilled for you. This is a roller coaster ride for sure and you will have good and bad days. We will all be here for you.

Hugs, Deb