Hi,

I'm Di. My husband is Adam. We've been married for 8 years, have a sweet little kiddo, Allie, who will be 4 in February.

Adam was diagnosed in Oct. with stage 1 OC. In quick sucession, we've found ourselves with a whole new vocabulary (what 3 year old do you know who can say glossectomy!?!) and a whole new set of really smart friends (otherwise known as doctors!)

I've been reading the boards the last month and have so much appreciated the wealth of knowledge that is gathered on this site. My job is learn, his job is to fight and heal. And together we'll wrangle the kiddo (okay, maybe I'm on my own with that for awhile, with help from the world's most amazing in-laws!)

I'm sure we'll have 1,000 questions as I tend to radiate questions as per of my personality anyway. And I so look forward to meeting some others who won this unfortunate lottery.

Thanks!
--Di

Hello, Di. It will be great for Adam to have you with him through allof this. I know when I was in the doctors' offices I tended to get a little overwhelmed and it was my wife, Linda, who thought of all the questions to ask. I couldn't have made it without her. Together you'll get through it.

Welcome, Di and I am sorry to meet you this way. I too have a three year old, a little girl named Jazlyn. (she is engaged - or so she says ,... to the ring bearer at the wedding she was flower girl in LOL)

You have found a great resource by coming to this site. Never be afraid to ask, even if you think it may sound silly. We have all been there, wondering what to expect, what something means etc. So, feel free to be open and ask anything at any time.

My best to you and I hope all goes swiftly and well for your husband. Keep us posted how he does thru treatment, as we will be pulling for him and praying for you all too.

take care!

Di,

Sorry you're here but you have found the BEST possible source of information in the world.

I am a tad curious why they are opting to do the concurrent chemo/rad right off the bat? I thought that they normally try the surgery route first with most Stage I's and save the rad for later if necessary.

Welcome to OCF, sorry that you have to be here.

I'm curious too, why surgery, radiation and chemo at stage I? I was a stage III due to tumor size and I was told that if I was a stage I then surgery only, stage II could have been just surgery or just radiation or both if I wanted it. I was cleared from chemo because my cancer was isolated to the tongue. Radiation was done as a precaution--to nuke any possible cancer cells not detected.

Ray Robin was stage one and you know his outcome.

Hi all,

Thanks for the welcome.

As it was explained to us, Adam's tumor had these little branches reaching further into the tongue away from the center of the tumor. Though the surgeon felt confident that he excised it fully and had good, clean margins, he had to go back three times to achieve those margins (same surgery). There is enough doubt that there may be a few lingering cells in his tongue or elsewhere that the doctors (and us too!) feel more comfortable pursuing more treatment vs. more surgery.

And he has a long time left according to the actuary tables which also means there is a long window for reoccurence as well.

Okay. Off to look for threads about Glutamine!

Thanks!
--Di

Thanks.

Adam is pretty goosey about medical stuff so I've been trying to be there for each appointment. Yesterday I thought I could skip the blood work appointment but then they handed him a bunch of literature (pictures of rashes and whatnot) that really freaked him out. We're making up rules as we go along, but we definitely added this one "No looking at medical literature while having your blood drawn"!

One thing to know is the amount of differentiation. Even though it is early staged, if it is poorly differentiated then they may very persue a more agressive treatment plan.

If it were me I would probably have a CCC in your area review the protocol and medical records just to insure your comfidence factor.

Some patients don't really want to become "experts" on the treatment plan and we see more caregivers here as a result. There is no shame in taking anti anxiety meds while going through this - I certainly did. You should attend every appointment with a notebook and take detailed notes.

Hi Di...welcome to the besy support site out there. As a caregiver of a patient you have an important job. My fiancee has been so wonderful. He keeps things lite and keeps me from worrying. You sound like you will be a great support to your husband. Always let us know whatever questions you have.

I also have/had stage 1 and I have only been treated surgically. So far so good....another biopsy on 1/15/08 to find out about this pesky sore spot on my tongue.