Thanks to all for the support and reply. My diagnosis was confirmed and treatment is being done at the MAYO Clinic in Rochester. I believe the Dx took so long because when I first approached my Doc in California the radiologist read the CT scan as a "carotid body tumor" and not cancer. And as luck would have it that type tumors protocol is no biopsy. So if the radiologist would not have been so bent on it being a benign carotid body tumor, then maybe treatment would have been faster.

Luck came back when my second ENT doc stated the he strongly believed it was Tonsil cancer and set up the appointment at MAYO. Within a few hours at MAYO it was confirmed to be Tonsil Cancer. I had the option to have all of my neck lymph nodes and tonsils removed or to start the chemo then radiation and chemo, with luck no surgery will be required.

Lots of other items had to be corrected and checked out before a treatment plan could be advised; like other biopsies of "hot" lymph nodes in other parts of my body per PET Scan, oral surgery to correct dental problems. And of course healing from all of the other pokes and prods before we could get down to serious treatment.

I feel very confident the folks at MAYO will fix this and I hope to report back to the forum in a few months that m first PET is negative after treatment.

God Bless to all, Dave