Hello all,

I was referred here by a cyber H&N cancer friend. He recommended it as a straight shooting, no sugar coating forum. I probably could use a good dose of reality as I've been caught flat footed a couple of times since my Dx.

A little history.. not much different than most I assume. Had a cold/sinus infection August 2012 with swollen lymph nodes on the left side of my neck. Nothing unusual for me. By September the infection hadn't waned and I developed a prostate infection as well. A trip to my primary care physician and a round of antibiotics later everything was clearing up and while the lymph node in my neck went down, it didn't go away. Into October and surprise! A heart attack (my 2nd ...triple bypass on 2007) on the 15th. Three stents and a week later I'm home doing fine. Follow up with my PCP the 25th of Oct. and all is well except the swollen lymph node. Another round of antibiotics and no change. CAT scan in early November...visit to the ENT on the 21st and a FNA. Diagnosis SCC H&N on the 30th of November.

Surgery to remove palatine tonsils on Dec. 12th with biopsies and laryngoscopy. No primary found. Dx Tx N2b MO Stage IV HPV+

2nd opinion Jan. 18th at Johns Hopkins. Decided on seeking treatment there as opposed to locally (bad experience locally).
Surgery on Feb 7th. Selective neck dissection to remove the cancerous lymph nodes along with 24 additional lymph nodes on the left side of my neck, TORS to remove lingual tonsils and do additional biopsies to determine primary and another laryngoscopy. Still no primary found.

11 days after surgery I had a situation as one of the tonsil beds blew a clot and I began bleeding. Enough so that a trip to the ER and then an ambulance ride to Johns Hopkins for emergency surgery was warranted. I lost a pint a blood. Fortunately is was considered a slow leak and I'm Ok.

Treatment starts Thursday the 14th. 35 rad treatments and 7 weekly chemo (Cisplatin) sessions.

So there you have it. What else can I say? Just want to come out of this in one piece and get back to whatever will be considered normal. I have the feeling the new normal will be drastically different.

"T"