Hello,

I met with Dr Norris and 3 other physician's at Dana Farber on Nov. 20th. Dr. Norris was very positive, and gave a lot of encouragement in the treatment of the cancer. He said the location is in the middle of the left side of my tongue and a little towards the floor of my mouth. There may be 1 lymph node affected, so tehy are going to schedule me for a PET scan to cross reference with the CT scan I had.

Next week (Dec 5th and 6th) I am schedule for pre-op visits with the anesthesiologist, Dr. Norris, and a plastic surgeon. The surgery is scheduled for Dec. 17th. Dr. Norris said the location on my tongue was a positive, as it is not too far back towards the base to ruin my ability to swallow, and it is not too far towards the front to ruin my speech. The surgery he believed would be about 10 hours long. They will remove the cancerous area, and then a plastic surgeon, will take some skin from my left forearm, and graft it into the missing location of my tongue. A PEG tube will be inserted while I am in surgery, and I will most likely be in the ICU for the first few days. If my breathing can't not be controlled by tubes from my nose, they may have to do a tracheotomy (sp?), which they would reverse in a couple days.

Dr. Norris believes I will be at Brigham & Women's for about 8 - 14 days. After a biopsy is done on the removed portion of my tongue, they will decide the amount of radiation I will need, and possibly a low dose of chemo to assist the radiation.

My family and friends have really been supportive, and my in-laws are going to look after my son, while I am in the hospital. My wife has been very strong, and positive. I am holding up ok, but still have my brief moments of breaking down. I have no fear of the surgery and treatment, as it necessary to seemy son grow up.

Paul a.k.a novalty