Wow. Well, it's interesting because I never knew I had cancer until it was gone so i never studied what i could have had. I also never built up any kind of fear of the unknown as to what it could mean to me if it *was* cancer. I'm saying this because I feel somewhat unknowledgeable about questions you guys ask that seem very fair and reasonable to know as a patient. Yet I don't. I think i'm going to see if I can have a copy of my medical work done on this subject, for my own knowledge and to share.

I also typo'd Parotid hehe.. just in cause you were wondering where you could find a parodid.

PeteyB.. i'm going to find that out, for myself as well as for you. I was told I had a parotidectomy.. of course.. the removal of the parotid, but that doesn't really give meaning to the type of cancer that I had. If I remember correctly it was a hard word to remember hehehe. I'm gonna find out more and post it a little later!

Sharlee.. Perhaps they felt they were ahead of the growth of the cancer and could stop cutting before they reached the submandibular gland. We can only guess but your doc should know. I'll have a race with you to find out which doctor (yours or mine) ponies up the information we ask of them first Young mom of 5.. but very worked out I'm sure. wow.. and my 1 child keeps me soo busy.

Carol, thank you for your kind words. Funny thing about my wedding, I got married to a French woman, perfectly bilingual and i'm perfectly English.. with a LITTLE french from what i remember in high school 15 yrs ago. The wedding was in Bathurst, NB, my wifes home town. The day of the wedding arrived and my english family was all seated on one side of the church, the French and bilingual relatives of my wife were on the other. The priest of this Catholic church was also French but he could read english although his comprehension was about like my understanding of french. On the *morning* of the wedding, he lets us know that he has misplaced the english translation for the wedding!! He asked if we wanted to reschedule the wedding!! We couldn't, not since so many people travelled so far.. so we had a french wedding. Imagine the ritualistic responses that catholicism requires then imagine a bunch of english people not standing up or repeating any of the priests words when the french side were doing so. Even I was at a loss. In fact, feeling a little guilty about not participating in the ceremony of my own wedding, i attempted lip synching with the crowd. In actuality my jaw just bobbed up and down, I kinda made a popping sound with my lips that only I could hear. Funny thing, my best friends were watching and almost pee'ing themselves as I was doing this. I never noticed but they said they couldn't take it... they almost burst out laughing aloud. All in all, everyone was none the worse for wear, but what a memory.

I'll write again when I have some meat and potatoes regarding specifics on