Tom Kubinski Tom's Journey

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We've created it to keep friends and family updated about Tom's journey. Get started by reading the introduction to our website, My Story.

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Where to begin...I am not sure when, but sometime this past spring Tom noticed an unusual lump in his neck.  However, in Tom fashion, he did not want to burden or worry me as we were still in the middle of dealing with Tori's cyst situation.  I guess I learned about a week before surgery was scheduled after the aspiration of the cyst.  The initial diagnosis was that the fluid removed was benign so we believed that we had nothing to worry about.

On July 10, Tom underwent surgery at the new outpatient surgery center in Maple Grove. A week later, the pathology report was not as positive.  The golf ball size mass included a 1.5 cm x 1.5 cm area of squamous cell carcinoma - cancer.  This is where our true journey begins.  It was determined that his tonsils needed to be removed as well as some additional biopsies in the neck area.  Also, the initial plan is for radiation and chemotherapy following the tonsillectomy.

First, Tom underwent a  PET scan to determine a possible primary site and possible spread to other areas in his body.  The results showed no indication of cancer.  This was good news!

The second surgery was scheduled for today, August 4, 2009, to remove Tom's inflamed tonsils and perform the biopsies.  Tom made it through surgery without complications and the initial response from the surgeon is that nothing looked unusual to the eye.  Tom is suffering from throat pain, the only good news is that he is not suppose to talk for a few days - Ha!  He was, however, still able to joke with the medical staff prior to surgery and then in writing.  There is no way to keep him quiet!

Now we wait...the pathology report will take about 5 days.  We have a meeting scheduled for the morning of Monday, August 10 to determine the course of action to beat this awful thing!!

Our faith is strong, we believe we will conquer this bump in our journey together.  We appreciate all the friends and family who we know are in the battle with us.  Your love, support and prayers mean so much to us!  We are and have been so truly blessed!  Tom's attitude is good and you all know he is strong willed so he will persevere and he will beat this!  Thank you for reading and keeping up to date on Tom's journey.  :)