The Beginning

I'm a 60 male who was diagnosed two years ago with Metastatic Squamous Cell Cancer (Throat Cancer that had moved from a primary site to a lymph gland.) The bout of cancer had presented as a swollen lymph gland that showed as non-cancerous after a FNA (fine needle aspiration.) After removal, a biopsy showed that the lymph gland did, in fact, contain cancer from my throat, but there was no primary site found at the time. The local doctors in Los Gatos wanted to get me into Radiation and Chemo right away, but my personal doctor got my case reviewed at Stanford and they wanted to retest everything up there. So I went through more exams, Pet Scans, MRIs....... a lot of tests. They could not find a primary site either and the treatment recommended at Stanford Hospital was to do a radical neck dissection to remove additional lymph glands (64 in total) all of which were tested and were negative for cancer. This was followed by exams every 6 weeks and a Pet every 6 months to make sure there was no activity.

It had been a little over 2 years from the time I had first felt that lump on my throat and, while in China on business, I was rubbing the back of my neck and felt a lump on the back left side of my neck. Upon arrival home, I was back up at Stanford within 2 days and the diagnosis was Metastatic Squamous Cell again. Following a Pet Scan, no primary was found again, so we did another neck dissection, this time for 10 lymph glands. During that operation, they also checked my lungs, throat, larynx and tongue and found a spot of cancer on the base of my tongue. It had not shown up on the PET Scan because it is not a particularly active tumor and the tongue shows as active on the Pet. They ended up having to do contrast to find the tumor, but find it they did. I have been put on a treatment schedule that will include 30 sessions of radiation aimed at my neck and tongue and chemo to aid with the effectiveness of the radiation and kill off any random cancer cells traveling around my body.

I am very fortunate to have a wonderful wife who is acting as my caregiver, a family who is checking in with me all the time, friends who are there for me and a lot of acquaintances who are praying for me. All in all a lucky guy who has hit a bump in the road and and I hope to use this blog to let everyone know what I am going through in treatment of this tumor and to rid myself of the cancer. It is very difficult to talk to everyone about what is going on with the treatment and how I feel. I cannot find the time to return all the calls I am getting, but please know that they are appreciated and the calls are one of the main reason to write this blog to allow everyone who cares to stay abreast of my journey.