Hi Brenshere,

I am so sorry for what you are going thru. The initial anguish and fear with your diagnosis is not easy to process. Having loved ones nearby, zoom, or however, is a big help. I hope you can use facetime/zoom, and get a support group of highly trusted people. It helped me to have a schedule set up with different groups. One day would be immediate family. A couple days later would be high school buds, etc. This was all zoom.

The surgery is intense depending on which process you ultimately need but they did not send me home until I was ready. I ended up getting a partial glossectomy (half my tongue) and all the nodes on that side removed. I had a trache tube for breathing. And, believe me, I would have done almost anything to be out of the hospital after those days in ICU.

Nurses are angels. They did so much to make my experience better. Lean on them, open up to them, they are amazing.

I also found strength in knowledge. I read books. The one about Greg Anshutz is inspirational. Also, I recommend Anticancer (my favorite because it is packed with data and I am an engineer). You can find tons if you like to read.

Good on you for reaching out to this group. You can find all kinds of good support and information here.

Stay safe and keep the faith,
Nels