Hiya Amy..!

I am concentrating MORE on drinking fluids to avoid dehyrdration.

What nobody on here knows is that I am about 60 + pounds overweight, so I am only concentrating on fluids and nutritional suppliment drinks.

Oh, and I sleep great! Between the 7 to 8 pain scale hits every two hours...I take meds every two hours, so I wake up a few times mid-night...no biggie since I lounge around all day too! :-)

I'm lucky to still have both my parents with me and Seth through all of this. But, I am sending them home tomorrow... They have been at my side almost every minute since Diagnosis, and I think THEY need a break, not to mention their businesses need them!

Seth is really working hard to take care of anything I need. He feeds me ice chips one at a time at 3:00 AM when the pain hits an 8.

By the way, ice chips ::: ICE CHIPS ::: I know it sounds polly ana, but they really help (me anyway) to dull an 8 or 9 down to a 6.5 or 7, until I can take another med, etc.

Speaking of weird treatments, today I got one of those "Mouth Guards" you can pickup at any drug store and "custom mold" it to your teeth. It helps tremendously!!! I realized that as the pain approaches a 6+ it has this cascade effect...I grind my teeth together reflexivly from the pain, which cuts into the tonsil wound more and causes more pain, which makes me bite down more...you get the point. Anyway, this is especially bad while sleeping when I'm not able to make a concious effort not to grind. So, this little $ 20 gadget that I had to put in boiling water to fit my teeth saves me some pain. Just wanted to mention it in case someone can benefit from this info.

Remember to keep things that go into your mouth as steril as possible to reduce infection, swelling and inflamation.

I am starting on barley green and fresh carrott juice tomorrow as just one more added insurance against this beast!

Anything I can do to improve my odds, even just 1%, is worth considering.

Infact, that's really the reason I will starting a new thread under the treatment topic.

I have to begin radiation (and/or chemo) soon and can go anywhere.

I am trying to decide between:

1) Memorial Sloan Kettering (NY)
2) UCSF (San Francisco)
3) MDAnderson (Houston)
4) City of Hope (LA)
5) UCLA (LA)
6) Hoag Cancer Center (Newport)

These are in the order of likely selection. Hoag is 15 minutes from our Laguna home which is why I am considering it, plus they brag about a HUGE survival rate for cancers in general, not too much experience with SCC (H&N) though.

LA is about an hour from our Laguna home.

SF is about 3 hours from our lodge in Mendocino.

Another consideration is that only 4, 5 & 6 have the new TomoTherapy which is what I am going to try to use.

http://www.tomotherapy.com/company/comp_customers.html

Also, Stanford has this new contraption...

http://www.stanfordhospital.com/clinicsmedServices/COE/cyberknife/ckHome.html

Who knows!!??

We have made arrangements to be away from the resort for 6 to 8 weeks as needed, checking back as often as we can, both of us on weekends the first couple of weeks, then Seth alone a few times.

My folks live in the Laguna house, lot's a friends, family, support and familiarity (freeways, etc). Room for our dog (Zach the 100# black lab moose!), our room is there just like we left it 6 months ago, all very nice and comfortable.

BUT, I want to make the smartest decision for my long term survival, so if that mean's moving to a 2 star motel in 105 degree, 100% humidity HOUSTON for 2 months, let's do it!

Can you guys help me decide over the next couple of weeks?

I want to start to make plans now.

I have read all the reports about using a CCC or at least a CC. I know the statistics out there are hard to follow.

ANY advice or testimonials are appreciated!