It's inoperable for a couple of reasons. The first is the condition of his neck - he has extreme fibrosis and it's truly as hard as wood. The second is the largest of the two tumors is already wrapped around the carotid. Since this area and the carotid are already damaged by the previous radiation, and since the tumor is invading the carotid artery itself, they (yes, we've had 3 opinions so far) will not consider surgery.

In fact, there is still a chance that the carotid will "blow out" from the radiation but this is a chance we are taking. The tumor is growing fairly quickly now and causing severe muscle spasms, cramping, headaches, lightheadedness & dizziness. Chemo will slow down the growth but not cure it. IMRT may (again, may) kill the current tumors but there is a strong chance they are not the only ones.

Sucks to be realistic but at least we are preparing ourselves for the worst while we hope for the best. 2-4 more years are a lot better than one. :-)

This page does a good job of further explaining some of what we are facing: http://www.bcm.tmc.edu/oto/grand/04062000.html

Recurrences, we have been told, have the highest chance of happening during the first two years and the majority happen in the first three. Mike was at 2 years post-radiation. The tumor was noticed at 2 years post surgery but until it showed growth, it wasn't investigated further.

So far no other organs are definitely involved but the PET scan did show a hot spot in the lungs where there are lesions that have been stable in size for more than two years. That doesn't mean they are or aren't cancer, only time will tell. We've had other spots look suspicious on CT scan but show negative on the two PET scans.

Hope I've answered all the questions....we're still in investigative mode but have, to date seen, in addition to our ENT: 2 radiation oncologists and 1 medical oncologists. In the next week we add in a second medical oncologist, a vascular surgeon (who is determining the status of the carotid artery as well as putting in the chemo port) and a gastroenterologist (who is putting in the PEG).

Sending everyone HAPPY HOLIDAY WISHES!!!