Oct 22nd email to some family & friends

"It all started the morning of Monday Sept. 28, when I awoke to some swelling on my neck. I had had a scratchy throat the weekend before and assumed I had a cold coming on. The next morning, when the swelling was still there, I decided to call my ENT and move up my next checkup. So, Friday Oct. 2, I saw my ENT. He thought I probably had an infection in my salivary gland and recommended some meds. We also decided on a biopsy to rule out cancer. On Tuesday Oct. 6, I went in for the fine-needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy on the lump. That's when I found out the bad news....my cancer was back. I was diagnosed with a recurrence of Squamous Cell Carcinoma in a left submandibular lymphnode. (Originally we thought it was the salivary gland, but it turns out that the lymphnode has actually just gotten so big it sorta incased the salivary gland.) A Pet scan on Monday Oct. 12 revealed the cancer was contained to just that one lymphnode area. (yay!) My ENT recommended going back to the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix for surgery. That was where I had the partial glossectomy and right neck dissection about a year ago. Unfortunately, my wonderful surgeon from last time, Dr. Kim, has moved to Seattle, so I met with a Dr. Hayden earlier this week (Oct. 20). Dr. Hayden was Dr. Kim's mentor and has been doing head and neck cancer surgeries for 31 years, so he is definitely good hands to be in. Unfortunately again, Dr. Hayden is going out of the country for a few weeks, so I am not going to be able to go in for surgery until Nov. 16th! I'm a little scared to be waiting so long, but the benefits of waiting an extra week or two for an experienced surgeon (less time in surgery, quicker recovery, less possibility of damage to surrounding nerves and muscles, less chance of missing part of a cancerous node) outweigh the slim slim chance of the cancer growing/spreading.

So....on Nov 16th I will be heading to Phoenix for a left neck dissection, where they will remove all my left neck lymphnodes and my submandibular salivary gland. The surgery should last about 2-3 hours, and I should feel back to normal by the following day; however, I will probably be in the hospital 3-5 days depending upon how long it will take the drain to clear. After the pathology report comes in following surgery, Dr. Hayden will present my case to Mayo's tumor board, who will then recommend the next coarse of action. Right now, radiation treatment is not definite, but it is a "probably". If I need radiation treatment, it will most likely be 30 treatments (5 treatments a week for 6 weeks). It will most likely take place 4-6 weeks after surgery (so late-December through early-February). Since I am young and "healthy" it is possible the treatment shouldn't be as bad. I've known cases of some 30-year-olds who manage to continuing working throughout the entire treatment. I also know cases of people who are out of commission for months, but those tend to be older patients. We will all just have to wait and see how I take it. "