Glossotonsillar sulcus squamous cell carcinoma... try to say that fast three time! It is quite the mouthful! (HA!)
So yes, I have been diagnosed with tongue/throat cancer. I have a great treatment team and this cancer is very treatable with a 95% success rate. The long-term outlook is very good, but the next couple months are not going to be fun!
The brief history: Shortly after Christmas, I started to experience some swollen lymph nodes in my neck. After a couple weeks of them not getting better on their own, I went into my DR to have him take a look. After seeing many DRs, a CT scan, 2 MRIs, 1 PET scan, and a couple biopsies, it has been confirmed (multiple times). Squamous cell carcinoma is a type of skin cancer. My oncologist stated that a few years ago, they would have considered this Stage 4 but there have been so many advancements in treatment for this type of cancer that they now considered it stage 1.
Treatment starts March 8 with surgery to remove the cancer. 4-6 weeks later, I will hopefully be eligible to start a 2-week radiation/chemotherapy combination that my oncologist has been studying. This treatment has shown very similar effectiveness to the standard 6-week chemotherapy regimen but has fewer long-term side effects.
That is all for now... thanks for following along with this adventure!
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