First of all, I want to thank you for your advise. Looking back, I wonder now if we did the right thing by going ahead with the surgery. The doctor is a very good Ears-Nose-Throat doctor and surgeon. We first went to him after going to our regular doctor who was treating my husband for sinus and allergy trouble. That's what we thought this was all about. The ENT doctor had set up my husband for a sleep apnea test, since he had started snoring pretty bad. Also he was having pain in his right ear and jaw and couldn't open his mouth very wide. One doctor said they thought he had arthritis in his jaw.

On our follow-up visit is when the doctor noticed the tumor. According to him, it evidently started deep behind the tonsil area and had just surfaced enough where it could be seen. My husband had said for about a month that it felt like something was in his throat. This is why they scheduled the surgery to get this out, I think he was afraid it would cause trouble with his breathing.

We were not prepared to find out that this was something malignant and cancer. Maybe if we had of we would have gotten a second opinion before going ahead with the surgery. I guess I don't feel that we were very well informed about the complications, etc. and didn't think about them because we thought this would just be a routine surgery.

After the surgery, the doctor told us it was malignant and that my husband would need radiation and/or chemo. He said he was confident that he got over 95% of the growth, and he felt it was contained in that one area, but said he would have to use the other treatment to get the rest, due to the fact that it was pretty deep, I guess. So this is where we are. If the tumor had to come out right now and that was the right thing to do, then I can deal with that. But now I am wondering if we were wrong and did we screw up my husbands voice unnecessarily. The doctor did say that it should come back somewhat but did know if it would come back like it was. I realize this is a minor detail, considering what he has to look forward to, but down the road, could some reconstructive surgery be done to correct this?

As far as the teeth, the wisdom teeth have never come up and at the age of 56, I don't think they ever will, and he has never had any trouble with them. The dentist said that the molars would be getting so much radiation that they should come out. If that is the case, I can see maybe on the right side where the radiation will be centered around, but why on the left side and the top. The dentist did say the top teeth don't normally have trouble because the veins are better than on the bottom.

Thanks, Susie