The other day, when I was contemplating a visit to Dr Haakenslash to see what was up with my two lesions, I found myself making plans for bad news -- Not depressing plans, but realistic plans based on what I have read here on this forum.

I've now had three surgeries in my mouth and on my neck (plus harvesting tissue from my wrist and then from my thigh to cover my wrist), numerous biopsies and scans, conventional radiation, but no chemo -- Compared to some on this list, I am still waaay ahead of the game -- No chemo, no tooth-pulling, no osteo-necrosis, no bone surgery, no trach stoma, still got a tongue, can eat stuf and swallow, can still talk, thyroid still works (albeit not so well) and so on.

Guess what? All of the things above are still survivable, it's just the fact of getting used to them and taking them in stride. It's called adaptation, and it requires not looking back but looking forward.

And not expecting things to change too quickly -- Celebrate the good changes and don't worry about the timing!