Good News!

Cancer Update

On Tuesday the 16th I had appointments with the three doctors responsible for my cancer treatment.  The ENT who first discovered the tumor on my tongue told me he couldn't find any remaining evidence of the tumor and after feeling my neck he pronounced the affected lymph node to be back to normal.  The doc that handled the 7 weekly chemo treatments checked me out and simply said "Congratulations!".  The doc who supervised the 7 weeks of daily radiation therapy agreed with the other two doctors and feels the cancer is all gone.  He did say that he was surprised at how well I came through the radiation and when I asked him why he said "Very few patients come through as well as you did".

The radiation treatments covered the area from just below my nose to about two inches below my shoulders and there was some skin irritation involved but it was light.  Out of all of the side effects that I read about on the internet, mine were few and not that bad at all.

The bad:  My taste buds were affected so that I had a bad taste in my mouth constantly and most things I ate tasted like cardboard.  My saliva glands were affected to my mouth was extremely dry at times.  Nothing to complain about as most people who have the same treatment I did cannot swallow and wind up with a feeding tube.

The good:  All of the hair follicles in the treatment area have temporarily gone dormant.  Why is this listed under "The good"?  No shaving for now and no trimming of those annoying "old man" hairs on my ears!

My next appointment is during the last week of June for a full body PET scan which is the only way to be sure the cancer is all gone.  I will have to have a scan every 4-4 months for the next 5 years!