One more thing...they got all of my cancer with my surgery, but one of my surgeons kind of wanted me to do 30 bouts of radiation, too...just in case. I decided not to do this. I already had 38 rads in 2009, plus 3 cisplatin. The surgeon admitted that the rads would slow down the healing from surgery, so I decided against it. I am going to have a baseline PET scan in November, so we will see what that shows.

Female, nonsmoker, 70, diag. 5/09 after tongue biopsy: stage IV. Left hemi-gloss. and left selec. neck disec. 30 lymph nodes removed May 20. Over 7 weeks daily rads. with three chemo. PEG removed 12/4/09 Am eating mostly soft foods. Back to work 11/09 Retired 4/1/11. 7 clear scans! Port out 9/11. 2/13. It's back: base of tongue, very invasive
surgery involving lifestyle changes. 2/14: Now speaking w/Passey-Muir valve. Considering a swallow study. Grateful to be alive.