Thank you all for the great welcome! You all are amazing! Only 14 more radiation treatments to go and while I'm excited about being done with that, I'm even more excited about the thought of getting my PEG tube out. I get all giddy inside thinking about that day! I remember my husband being mad at first when we found out it was cancer because the dentist and oral surgeon (and of course myself) kept putting off having a biopsy done, because I was so young and had no risk factors. I joke with a friend of mine, who is older and developed lung cancer (she never smoked and also lived a healthy lifestyle) that we should have "lived it up" and maybe we would have been diagnosed sooner (her diagnosis was also delayed because of a lack of risk factors)!!

Thank you for all the encouragement, hopefully I'll be able to provide some in return!


Stephanie, 23, SCC on the right side of my tongue, surgery on 5-19-08, over half my tongue removed, free flap constructed from my forearm, bilateral neck dissection, one positive node. Radiation (32) and chemo (carboplatin) started on 6-16-08. Recurrence 4/09 in lungs.

**** Stephanie passed away 12.15.09.... RIP our dear friend****