It's not a tumor, it's my arm!
Thank heavens I came back to my original surgeon at OHSU. The "tumor" and "scar tissue" they've been finding evidence of for four years is the arm "flap", chunk of forearm, they used to reconstruct the soft palate and throat 13 years ago. Whew! The team is still going over all my films and comparing them to the surgical procedures I had. But they feel pretty certain the primary site is fine. There's extreme mastoid infection as a result of the eustachian tube being cut off and closed way back then. Which explains the constant pain on that side of my face and neck.
But in all the films they found a semi-large lung tumor that they're going to needle biopsy. I've heard some negatives about those. Some say the biopsy spreads the cancer, others say your lung collapses. What have you heard? I'm thankful for all your insights about chemo. That will be happening for sure and it's good to know what works.
Hang in there Jen! My worst time was the first year after the neck dissection. It does get better.
Ali Mae