Hi Nancy,
I hope your worry and anger will reduce a bit after reading my post because my tonsil cancer diagnosed 4 years ago had also reached a very advanced stage and I consider myself a winner of the tough battle. My ignorance about this type of cancer (I never knew that cancer could develop in our tonsils) and doctors' misdiagnosis resulted in the late stage. Diagnosis was confirmed on 27/9/01 and the concurrent chemo-radiation treatment began on 1/11/01. During the waiting period, I was not sure if the huge tumor on the lymh node was still growing or not but there was nothing I could do to shorten the waiting time.Nor did I make any research about this type of cancer because at that time I was still on my full time job before treatment. I focused more on my job than the cancer itself. Moreover, I had full trust on my doctors and relied on their professional knowledge and experience to give me the best treatment. I only knew that my 5 year survival rate could be less than 50% but I didn't care much about prognosis. I just fought with will power and determination to win the battle. Support from my husband and family was very important throughout the whole process. I didn't have any surgery and had 4 rounds of cisplatin and 48 sessions of traditional radiation. For over 4 years I have been in remission and am enjoying my life now. So don't worry. You are welcome to email me if you want to hear more about my story.

Karen