And, we have a plan

Saw Dr. Tsue this afternoon -- and evening. His coordinator had warned us that our 3:00 appointment time won't mean that we'll see the Doctor at 3:00. It will likely be well after 3:00 before we get in. Good thing she warned us.

We got called back from the waiting room at 5:30 and left his office at 6:45. A long afternoon. But it was OK because it wasn't like we were anxious or were waiting to get any life changing information or anything like that.

But, we did get in and, other than the scheduling, we liked Dr. Tsue and his staff. We didn't like all the news they gave us, though.

The PET Scan showed the cancer had spread to one lymph node on the left side of my neck. That's the only spreading, and that's good, but we'd have preferred no spreading, of course. The size of the tumor and the fact that it has attached to a few places in my throat -- thereby spreading into some of the soft tissue -- leads them to suggest we NOT remove the tumor surgically. They said to remove it and to create their margins they would have to remove too much tissue and I'd have some serious long-term consequences to my swallowing, saliva production, etc., etc.

Instead they recommended a six-week regimen of combined Chemo and Radiation. They said this has near identical success rates to surgery for treating the cancer itself and, though it has it's own set of significant long term consequences, those consequences would be much less significant than those from Surgery.

They'll set us up with appointments with an Oncologist, a Radiation Doctor and a Dentist. The Dentist is to look at my teeth because Radiation is hard on teeth and will cause any marginal teeth to fall out. Rather than wait for that to happen they'll pull any marginal teeth now while the gums are healthy. She thought they could get the Dentist scheduled for next week but expected the Oncologist and Radiation appointments to fall into the week of Sept 29.

I hate all this waiting but, as long as we're waiting, maybe we pursue this 2nd opinion thing some more.