Hello All,

On March 27th I underwent a second neck dissection for a persistent tumor buildup on the left side of my neck. They did a horizontal and vertical incision because there was extra "junk" that needed to be taken out. My surgeon successfully removed all cancer which was seen by the naked eye. I had positive lymph nodes in lvls 2-4 that had extra nodal extension. This is not a recurrence, it was microscopic cancer cells that were there from the start. It's very concerning because it survived through the Chemo-Radiation from last fall.

The tumor board met up 2 weeks following my surgery and were worried about how quick the cancer came back, so they're recommending a 4 month Chemo Treatment Plan which consists of Erbitux and Taxol. The medications will be given through IV once a week for 16 weeks. My other option would be to let it ride and hope that there are not any microscopic cells left behind. It's been 3 weeks since my surgery and they said they would like to get the Chemo going before week 8 post-surgery.

The Chemo Doctor said that if I don't do anymore treatment as of right now... I have a 30% chance of the problem not persisting, and a 70% chance of it coming back. But if I do the 4 month Chemo Treatment he can't statistically let me know how much better my chances are of the cancer not coming back. There's also no guarantee that my bad cells will be responsive to these Chemo-therapies. Keep in mind that one of the possibilities is that I'm already completely cured right now.

This is a tough decision and I would like to hear what all of your opinions are. If you were in my shoes how would you approach this situation? Thank You.