Thanks so much, Christine & T, I really appreciate your input.
Christine, can you please post links to the studies you mentioned?
I agree completely that it matters where the patient's treated. That's exactly why I'm agonizing over this decision. My local hospital does use a team approach and has a team dedicated exclusively to head and neck cancer. I don't know how many cases they manage, but it's a large teaching hospital serving an area with a population of about 1.8 million. Our CCC is in an area with a population of about 500,000.
Our CCC doesn't have a Hope Lodge. Things are complicated by the fact that I'm a single-parent of an 8-year-old and want to minimize disruption to her life to the extent that I can.
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T3N2aM0 HPV+
5/26/13 discovered painless superball-sized lymph node in neck
6/26/13 DX SCC R palatine tonsil
7/16/13 TORS tonsillectomy & selective ND, mets to 2 nodes
9/3/13 Cisplatin and rads begin, tolerated 1.5 of 3 planned chemo doses
10/16/13 Treatment ends
Dec 13 Ulcer appears at surgery site
Jan 17 Biopsy -- no cancer!
Feb 17 CT/PET Scan lights up tonsil bed & nasal cavity, docs say probably inflammation, don't panic, rescan when ulcer subsides
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