Hey Kazy, sounds like a very similar situation to mine. From everything I'm hearing, this type of cancer is unfortunately starting to show up more often in people our age. Still no known reasons why, not like I sat under powerlines eating lead paint chips or anything. No good way of putting it, it just sucks. This period before actually starting treatment is especially bad. Once you find you have cancer you just want it out of you so you can start getting better, but it seems like everyone is moving in slow motion compared to what you want. My doctors had originally told us that mine looked to be around stage 2. After the surgery they had found 4 of the 59 nodes they removed were cancerous, one with extracapsular extension. This discovery immediately bumped me up to stage 4. That was a very tough bit of news to get, especially since surgeons aren't particularly known for their bedside manner. The wound up tacking on chemo to my surgery and radiation. Not thrilled about it, but if it will give me a better chance to avoid recurrence then I'll do it. Even though I'm stage 4, all the doctors agree that my prognosis is very good. I'm currently in my last treatment week so fingers crossed that I'm nearing the end of the roller coaster and heading for the lazy river portion of the park. Don't hesitate to ask anyone here for help and advice. Everyone here is very helpful, and as much as it sucks to go through this, you are family now.