hello again,thank you for your thoughts and prayers,they must be working,i'm feeling better.i was first dignosed scc rt.tonsil and lymph node stage3 2/04.for the last five years of his life i was caregiver to my father, an m.d. with parkinsons,he passed1/06.originally i would of had surgery,my father didn't want me to,and i couldn't find anyone to take care of him.looking back it doesn't make much sense.i started rad.3/04 but i had side effects.i asked the doctor if he could treat just the cancer,and spare my healthy tissue.he never told me what i asked for is called stereotactic rad.ironically his hospital offered it the next year.i've also found out that your first shot with radiation is your only chance of eliminating the cancer.i stopped after two weeks,a second round of rad.10/04 did little to reduce it,i finally had stereotactic rad.9/05 but too late.i had been scheduled for a follow-up in n.y.c. but asked if my referring doctor in ithaca could take over,i am to have my second visit on tuesday and a swallowing test and i will drive myself.i have mixed feelings about returning to new york,they have a factory atmosphere that i wish i'd never seen.i'm sorry if i'm slow to respond i've been sleeping alot lately.thank you nelie,tim and carol for your kindness.lyle