Hi there;
I am new here. Just for a little background, I had a partial glossectomy on 10/4/04. The margins were good, however they saw "angiolymphatic invation" which I have learned is a fancy term for cancer cells in the blood vessels of the lymphatic system. My lymph nodes looked clear on the MRI and I had a PET Scan yesterday. I am projected to start radiation on 11/15/04. I am feeling very lucky that the cancer was caught at an early stage (although a brush biobsy by the dentist missed it last year). The question I have comes from a meeting with my radiation oncologist on Thursday. He said that my husband and I should wait to start trying to have children for at least a year after the treatment has ended. He said there was a theoretical risk of genetic problems. I told my surgeon this yesterday and he said the oncologist was just being ULTRA conservative and there was no reason to wait. This may seem like and unimportant issue to be worried about right now. I probably should just be worried about getting through the treatments first. But I had been try to get pregant for a year before this whole thing came up and if it is not necessary to wait, I would rather not. Of course, I don't want to risk genetic problems just because I am impatient either! If anyone has been in this situation, or knows anything that might be helpful to me, I would really appreciate more information.
Thank you so much!
Sam