Had my tongue biopsy today. I have a follow up with the MO (chief head and neck surgeon at the CCC) on March 13 to find out the results. They did not do a frozen sample for quick diagnosis, they want to send out the samples for full review. The MO is notoriously conservative and can't say something optimistic without adding a "but" to it, and that is fine because that is the reality of cancer. He said that all he saw was evidence of scar tissue (fibrosis) and nothing else that alarmed him. "But" only the test results will tell for sure.

I have been feeling much better and I have a peace of mind about this. January was not a good month for my recovery. I had 10-day stretch where I could not hold down food well, needed IVs twice, and lost another 10 pounds. Most of this was due to a reflux problem that was aggravated by the combination of changed diet during and after Tx and the effect of pain meds on the digestive system. But February was much better. I weaned off of all pain meds, started eating a more normal diet, virtually lost all pain associated with swallowing, and felt gradual healing at the BOT tumor site. I even gained a few pounds back. All of this led me to believe that the cancer was gone and not recurring. "But" you never know.

The next phase is the lymph nodes. I had one node involved at Dx and it still shows up on the PET and CT. It did not light up on the PET as showing cancer and is more consistent with necrotic tissue. The conservative MO wants to do a selective dissection up to levels 1 to 4. Another approach is to monitor it more and do just a removal of the one node with biopsy as a first step. I'll be back to get people's thoughts on those options after the 13th.

Dan