Hi Christine, I just read your profile summary, Bless your will and fight for your life. I will certainly keep you in mind when things get scary or difficult, and know you fought through such difficult procedures.
I see you had cheek cancer twice. Did that happen to be the parotid gland?
My PET/CT showed probable malignancy in the left lingual tonsil, but slight activity in the left parotid gland. But my ENT Oncologist said that in my profile, that would be extremely rare, and he is almost certain it's hiding in just the lingual tonsil.
Another thing I wanted to expound on, but didn't want to make my initial post longer then it already was, is the second opinion situation.
After my primary doctor, and then a general surgeon, coordinated the removal of my SCC lymph node, I went on seeing one general ENT, and 3 Oncologist specialists.
The first Oncologist, worked at Columbia Presbyterian in NYC for many years, before moving to our satellite Columbia Presbyterian hospital near me. He is mostly an induction Oncologist, so he advised me to find an ENT to see where the primary site may be.
I used an ENT who is in a different group, that my family uses for most conditions, a very large group in our county.
He is the first doctor to discuss Robotic surgery. He didn't specialize in that, so he referred me to an independent ENT Oncologist who trained under the inventors of DaVinci.
After consulting with him, I met with a Radiation Oncologist who works at my satellite Columbia Presbyterian, and has worked at Sloan Kettering in NYC.
So the reason that I list all of this, is that I am being second guessed by some relatives and friends, for not going to Sloan Kettering for treatment and /or more opinions.
Both Sloan and Columbia Presbyterian in NYC are CCC's.
I told the people second guessing me, all this, but because I can drive 4 miles away for treatment, instead of the stressful and expensive trips down to NYC, they are still questioning me. I think that I have had 4 great opinions in general on my prognosis which is very good, and three of them more in depth on the robotic surgery and radiation.
Also, there have been no conflicts, every doctor along the way seems to have the same opinions, prognosis and options.
My thought is, save my energy, and be less stressed, going into the next 3 months, which will be very rigorous with the robotic surgery, radiation and possibly chemo.
But, I value any thoughts on my decision, that I have had more then enough opinions, from highly experienced doctors, some of which have worked at CCC's.