For surgery - they may get you to sign off it right away. But generally it takes a week or two to book you, minimum (now knowing you're a nurse and possible colleague may get you in faster (that's just the way it is folks). My dr. is tops in his field. The day I was due to meet him his mom died !!!! I met with his fellow instead ( a very hot Australian guy... he trains ENTs from all over the world ) the fellow went over everything with me and had me sign off. The next week the dr. insisted on seeing me and asked me to sign a separate form asking me to give him permission to split my jaw. I signed it but made it clear it was only an option if he absolutely could not get all of the tumor any other way (no laziness allowed) He triages his own surgeries so he scheduled me for three weeks later - I had my preop done early and told him if he had a cancellation I was game to go when he was.

Usually post op you have 5 - 6 weeks to heal. In that time they will do another CT, to prep you for rads, and they may also have you see an MO - in case they choose to do chemo as well. Plus blood work, meetings with a dental oncologist and hearing specialist (if chemo is part of the game plan), and maybe a radiation info session and an appointment with a dietician (most CCCs do this and have it all in house).

I was blessed enough to get it ALLLLLL ( I am being sort of facetious here but believe it or not - as hellatious as it was - I am glad they hit me with the works.

Generally 33 rounds of daily rads with weekends off is how it goes. Treatments are quick. maybe 20 minutes.... I wore a sports bra with no metal and a tank top and never had to change after the first day. SO I'd show up walk in lay down they'd set me up and cook me.

They also gave me chemo 3 times - week one - three and -six. They missed the last one because my blood was unhappy. This happens a lot. Sometimes chemo is given in six doses (weekly) instead. My hospital keeps you in house for chemo. They want you overnight where they can run an IV because cisplatin is hard on your kidneys. My father in law who also had cisplatin for esophageal cancer had it as an outpatient (so it depends on the Dr. I think because we were both treated at the same cancer hospital.)

When I was first diagnosed I was T2 N0 MO - There were 5 weeks between dx and surgery in that time a 1.5 cm node popped up.

The dr. told me the first day he met me that he would be removing 40 nodes from my neck as well as 1/3 - 1/2 of my tongue - and he didn't want any arguments. And frankly I would have asked him to do the dissection had he not suggested it.

Anyway showed him the node on the morning of the surgery (which BTW did NOT show up on any scans including an MRI 4 weeks weeks prior to the surgery and believe it or not - at that time I could actually PALPATE IT!!!) and he said it didn't matter it was coming out.

Turns out it was cancerous and it had extra-capular extension meaning it had already broken through the node into the surrounding tissue. all this in 5 weeks.

While surgeries and tumors are different depending on the structures involved most treatment regiments are the same. 28 - 35 rads (33 usually for oral tongue) and chemo (cisplatin, carboplatin, or Erbitux)

Friday!!! good luck - BTW I didn't have my jaw split though he said he lost 10 lbs in the OR because of me. My surgery was 14 hours long. I came out with a catheter, trache, ng tube, 2 drains and a face that looked like I'd been hit by a truck. (I even had a black EYE!) I also had two donor sites so they were bandaged as well and sutures along one side of my neck, and an IV in my foot. PS you will need something to write with usually they put in a non fenestrated trache day one and two, then they move you to a fenestrated trache for a day or so before removing it entirely.

As bad as it was - I am thoroughly grateful.

HUGS (ps - I used to be a nurse!) feel free to friend me on facebook and PM me there.