Cindy, I totally agree with Brian and Gary that you are very lucky to have found this forum so early to seek help from.I was in despair when the doctor broke me the news on 27/9/01 but the only information I could get was through reading a lot of books . The waiting period was barely tolerable but there were tests to keep you busy. Like Gary, I had ultrasound with biopsy ,MRI , CT scan and chest X-ray for diagnosis.There were a series of medical appointments like going to the dentist to have teeth checked,pulled (if necessary) and cleaned, moulding a mask for radiation, blood tests and kidney test for chemo.
I also pushed my oncologist for early treatment but since there were a lot of patients queuing up and the preparation did really take some time, I had my first treatment on 1/11/01. In fact before I started my treatment, I was still working as usual but had to get my sick leave once treatment started.On the day when I received the bad news, I could not sleep for a single second and had to rely on sleeping pills for almost a year. I don't know if it is true or not but my doctors told me that head and neck cancers are more treatable. Even though I am of a very advanced stage, they never gave me up and thank GOD, the ultrasound scanning tests I had last week showed that I am cancer free. Hope my story will give you and your husband some idea of what you may expect. Take care,

Karen stage 4 tonsil cancer diagnosed in 9/01.