Wow, what an experience today, and I mean that in a positive way. We arrived a little early and didn't have time to settle into a chair in the waiting room before the nurse took me in to check my vitals. She handed me paperwork to complete but before I could finish line one, the first doctor was in to see me. She said not to worry about the paperwork - she'd rather ask the questions in person anyway. She talked a lot about HPV+ and why that's good. I asked about the lymph node involvement on both sides with such a small bot tumor. She said they actually see that pretty often because the tongue is so vascular. She escorted me to another room where a resident numbed my nose in preparation for the camera. After a short wait, the room was literally filled with doctors and a couple of students - I believe there were 10 in all in an average size examination room. They all introduced themselves and most said they'd also attended the tumor board meeting yesterday where my case was presented by the two doctors I'd consulted with previously. All eyes were on the image of my throat and tongue on the screen. I had another thorough examination of my mouth and ears, too, and did some swallowing tests with dyed applesauce.

The radiation oncologist was the lead today - I expected him to talk to me about radiation treatments and effects but instead he and the others all concurred excitedly that I was an ideal candidate for TORS. Down to the last one, they were all extremely optimistic about my prognosis because the cancer has apparently been detected very early compared to usual bot and it is HPV+. They praised my local ENT highly for following up something for which many others would have taken a "wait and see" approach. I joked with the radiology oncologist that I was shocked he didn't want to do radiation and with the medical oncologist that she didn't want to do chemo and told them I expected everyone to advocate their own specialty. The surgeon spoke up with a grin and said, "Well, I still want to operate!"

Maria, you guessed correctly that they want to minimize or avoid radiation and chemo due to my past history. They're going to determine that after my surgery which will be scheduled asap. Realistically, that may be as long as 4 weeks from now to find me a slot where both my surgeon and the robot are available, the downside to going to a busy high tech hospital. I was forewarned that I'll be miserable post surgery but should heal well. A few weeks after the TORS, they'll do a neck dissection, the extent of which is still tbd.

At the end of the session, even my stressed and pessimistic by nature husband was feeling better about my future. He assured me that yes, the doctors really were genuinely excited and optimistic - it was NOT just me grasping at straws and seeing something hopeful that wasn't there.

I'm worried about the treatment not being aggressive enough but I at least feel comfortable with my team and their competence and combined years of experience in a great cross-section of disciplines. I'm lucky to live so close to a top ccc. I don't think I could be in better hands. I'm also an "interesting case" because of my transplant and gvhd so am getting more attention from more people than usual. I would rather be ordinary medically but the extra interest and attention is a good thing, I think.

Again, it is such a comfort to be a part of your community and your combined wisdom and experiences. Thanks to you, I knew a lot of questions to ask that I wouldn't have thought of otherwise and the doctors reacted well to my intelligent questions. The road ahead is still scary and uncertain but I'm feeling better about the journey overall.