BOT / Neck Dissection surgery
I finished treatment on May 7, 2011 for cancer of the tonsil, BOT, and neck lymph nodes. Typical treatment of cisplatin and 7 weeks radiation. I just had my follow up PET scan that shows cancer still remains in BOT and lymph node (tonsil was previously removed). Now I've read plenty on neck dissection and although the pictures of surgery are quite eye opening, I believe I know what's in store for me there. For the BOT, the PET scan shows no "definite soft tissue lingual mass" within the lingual tonsil but it measures 4.9 on the SUV scale. So my take on this is that it is hopefully a very small incision / resection that must be done. However, I can't seem to find a lot on the BOT portion of surgery and therein lies my questions. I hope you can help.
1) Will I be able to eat right away or will I have to have that stupid PEG tube again.
2) How much of my tongue will be cut? Loaded question I know.
3) Will my salivary glands be affected as I'm just now starting to get a little saliva back.
4) How long a stay in the hospital?
4a) How long of a recovery is it. I don't have to go back to work right away and thus want to take as much time to recover as necessary.
5) Will I talk a lot different? As far as I can tell, there is no activity around my voice box.
6) For neck dissection, how ugly is the scar?
7) Neck dissection again. W/today's robotics is there newer techniques to reduce the level of cutting?
My friends, I *really* appreciate any/all advice you have. I was really feeling good in my recovery and now I find myself facing the roller coaster of emotions that came with the original diagnosis. I must say that it really sucks!
Thanks in advance!
Gib
Comments
-
BOT
First of all, welcome to the family here at CSN. My husband also has BOT, tonsil (the part they do not remove) and lyph node. He is just finishing eight weeks of radiation and three infusions of Erbitox, he could not finish the Cisplatnin after the second hospitalized him. We have no experience with the neck disection but I wanted to tell you that we are praying for you and for a complete recovery.
Debbie0 -
BOT
First of all, welcome to the family here at CSN. My husband also has BOT, tonsil (the part they do not remove) and lyph node. He is just finishing eight weeks of radiation and three infusions of Erbitox, he could not finish the Cisplatnin after the second hospitalized him. We have no experience with the neck disection but I wanted to tell you that we are praying for you and for a complete recovery.
Debbie0 -
surgery
Gib,
As you know from reading these pages, everyone's treatment and response to treatment seems to be unique in one way or the other, so I can also describe my own situation to you, or at least answer your questions from my own history's perspective. Take it with a grain of salt, especially it was back in October of '05 that I had the surgery, things have changed since then, and I had TWO ENTs doing the surgery, one of whose specialty was plastic surgery.
I had half of my tongue replaced by muscle and nerves from my left arm. I think it was because of the nerve transplant that my surgery lasted so long (15 hours). I also had a radical neck dissection. I then spent four days in an induced coma. I have yet to meet another person here who went through the exact thing I did, so, again, take this with a grain of salt.
1. I would bet that you will be on a PEG tube. Your surgical wounds will need time to heal, there will likely be swelling, and most of us report issues with eating even many years later (I am now nearly six years out, and still working on eating some things whose texture, for example, makes it difficult to get down). I am off the tube now for nearly two years, so you CAN hope/expect to remove it, maybe sooner than later, as some others will tell you.
2. Loaded question, indeed! Depends on size and location of tumor(s) among, perhaps, other things beyond my knowledge.
3. Salivary glands, as far as I know, are impacted by radiation treatment rather than surgery, unless your doctors have reason to suspect they are also diseased.
4. Following my surgery in October (and subsequent chemo and seven weeks of rads, I was advised not to return to work until April of '06, but went back in February, probably not the best of ideas, but I did it.
5. Probably will talk different. The tongue has a tremendous amount to do with speech. You will like acquire a speech therapist (to help with both speech and swallowing). In my case, I sometimes have to tell people, especially on the phone, that I am not drunk, because of the slur. I am understood, but some consanants elide (get skipped over or are hard to say). I can't whistle anymore either.
6. Mine is not so bad, really.
7. Perhaps they have. I hope so!
Best wishes for successful surgery, recovery, and eradication of the cancer.
Take care,
Joe0 -
SO Glad you found the board!!!soccerfreaks said:surgery
Gib,
As you know from reading these pages, everyone's treatment and response to treatment seems to be unique in one way or the other, so I can also describe my own situation to you, or at least answer your questions from my own history's perspective. Take it with a grain of salt, especially it was back in October of '05 that I had the surgery, things have changed since then, and I had TWO ENTs doing the surgery, one of whose specialty was plastic surgery.
I had half of my tongue replaced by muscle and nerves from my left arm. I think it was because of the nerve transplant that my surgery lasted so long (15 hours). I also had a radical neck dissection. I then spent four days in an induced coma. I have yet to meet another person here who went through the exact thing I did, so, again, take this with a grain of salt.
1. I would bet that you will be on a PEG tube. Your surgical wounds will need time to heal, there will likely be swelling, and most of us report issues with eating even many years later (I am now nearly six years out, and still working on eating some things whose texture, for example, makes it difficult to get down). I am off the tube now for nearly two years, so you CAN hope/expect to remove it, maybe sooner than later, as some others will tell you.
2. Loaded question, indeed! Depends on size and location of tumor(s) among, perhaps, other things beyond my knowledge.
3. Salivary glands, as far as I know, are impacted by radiation treatment rather than surgery, unless your doctors have reason to suspect they are also diseased.
4. Following my surgery in October (and subsequent chemo and seven weeks of rads, I was advised not to return to work until April of '06, but went back in February, probably not the best of ideas, but I did it.
5. Probably will talk different. The tongue has a tremendous amount to do with speech. You will like acquire a speech therapist (to help with both speech and swallowing). In my case, I sometimes have to tell people, especially on the phone, that I am not drunk, because of the slur. I am understood, but some consanants elide (get skipped over or are hard to say). I can't whistle anymore either.
6. Mine is not so bad, really.
7. Perhaps they have. I hope so!
Best wishes for successful surgery, recovery, and eradication of the cancer.
Take care,
Joe
I am not sure how many of you get the mayo clinic newsletter.
This month had an article about the wonders of robotic surgery on Head and Neck cancer.
They do it through the mouth!
You would have to travel, it is not in our neck of the woods.
Below is the title, and if some one (? John, where are you) could magically turn that into a link it would be great.
http://www.mayoclinic.org/mcitems/mc6700-mc6799/mc6700-0711.pdf
Stacey Almos from Whitefish,MT0 -
Hi Gib
If you're like me, the neck dissection will be "cake" as far as pain goes after having a tonsillectomy. If you're paying attention to me, my neck dissection scar is juicy. It runs from behind my ear, curves down to the big crease in my neck, follows the crease to the front of my throat, then goes all the way up to the point of my chin. If you're not looking for it, I think it's easily overlooked. I'll try to change my profile pic to a shot of my scar - no makeup - once the redness cleared, it wasn't so bad. I luckily never had to have surgery on my tongue (OK, the biopsies, but that's different), so can't help you on recovery info for that.
Having probs emailing pic to myself - will try later.0 -
everyone's different, but here's our story
Hi - My husband has also been diagnosed with BOT cancer and went the surgery-first route. He had a neck dissection 3 weeks ago and a partial glossectomy on the left side of this tongue two weeks yesterday - and radiation is next.
Neck dissection - in the hospital just one night. Fairly easy first week at home - nerves are reconnecting now and he's been in quite a bit of pain for the last few days. Scar? No problem. Handsome as ever. He was back at work one week later and didn't cause any audible gasps!
Partial glossectomy - went faster than we expected and they got clear margins. I was probably more unprepared than he was. One night in the hospital - they let him go home as soon as they were confident he could swallow pain meds on his own. No tubes for him, but he didn't eat much the first few days (have lots of jello on hand). Speach still slurred two weeks later, but markedly better. We ordered pizza tonight - and I made the phone call b/c he's still a little hard to understand over the phone. In person, fine (and yes, he ate pizza and salad, so getting back to normal food is fairly quick). He hasn't seen a speach therapist - and probably won't. Definitely would if he thought he needed it though. This was a big concern for us. He's a gifted speaker - and talks to large groups often as part of his job. I expect he'll be back on track for this soon.
'Hope that helps a bit. Good luck with it all! This is only my second post - as you, I'm glad to have the support!0 -
Hi Staceyastaceya said:SO Glad you found the board!!!
I am not sure how many of you get the mayo clinic newsletter.
This month had an article about the wonders of robotic surgery on Head and Neck cancer.
They do it through the mouth!
You would have to travel, it is not in our neck of the woods.
Below is the title, and if some one (? John, where are you) could magically turn that into a link it would be great.
http://www.mayoclinic.org/mcitems/mc6700-mc6799/mc6700-0711.pdf
Stacey Almos from Whitefish,MT
Yes I too get the Mayo new letter, great weekly report and up-date on what is happening in the medical field.
Very good article on robotic surgery
Hondo0 -
Hi Huskyhuskyflake said:everyone's different, but here's our story
Hi - My husband has also been diagnosed with BOT cancer and went the surgery-first route. He had a neck dissection 3 weeks ago and a partial glossectomy on the left side of this tongue two weeks yesterday - and radiation is next.
Neck dissection - in the hospital just one night. Fairly easy first week at home - nerves are reconnecting now and he's been in quite a bit of pain for the last few days. Scar? No problem. Handsome as ever. He was back at work one week later and didn't cause any audible gasps!
Partial glossectomy - went faster than we expected and they got clear margins. I was probably more unprepared than he was. One night in the hospital - they let him go home as soon as they were confident he could swallow pain meds on his own. No tubes for him, but he didn't eat much the first few days (have lots of jello on hand). Speach still slurred two weeks later, but markedly better. We ordered pizza tonight - and I made the phone call b/c he's still a little hard to understand over the phone. In person, fine (and yes, he ate pizza and salad, so getting back to normal food is fairly quick). He hasn't seen a speach therapist - and probably won't. Definitely would if he thought he needed it though. This was a big concern for us. He's a gifted speaker - and talks to large groups often as part of his job. I expect he'll be back on track for this soon.
'Hope that helps a bit. Good luck with it all! This is only my second post - as you, I'm glad to have the support!
I did not have BOT but would just like to welcome you here to CSN.
All the best to you
Hondo0 -
Neck Dissection pix.Hondo said:Hi Husky
I did not have BOT but would just like to welcome you here to CSN.
All the best to you
Hondo
I had 23 lymphnodes and my left salivary gland removed.
THE DAY AFTER MY NECK DISSECTION
YOU CAN BARLEY SEE MY SCAR NOW. ZOOM IN ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE PICTURE. MY LEFT SIDE OF MY NECK.
That is me and my niece at her graduation this June.0 -
Thanks to all ...staceya said:SO Glad you found the board!!!
I am not sure how many of you get the mayo clinic newsletter.
This month had an article about the wonders of robotic surgery on Head and Neck cancer.
They do it through the mouth!
You would have to travel, it is not in our neck of the woods.
Below is the title, and if some one (? John, where are you) could magically turn that into a link it would be great.
http://www.mayoclinic.org/mcitems/mc6700-mc6799/mc6700-0711.pdf
Stacey Almos from Whitefish,MT
Stacey, I know that God sent you to me in April/May when I was at my lowest during the end of treatments. I expect that he again sent you to me to lift my spirits, give me good information (as usual) and I'm so very thankful. Right now we are leaning towards Seattle for surgery. I know that they do robotics for the BOT but am not sure about the neck. I will definitely be sure to ask and then to also check in with the Mayo clinic as well.
Pam, Sweetblood22, Hondo, Joe, and all. Thank you for the words of encouragement, pictures, and sharing with me. It really helps! God bless you.
Gib0 -
Neighbors...gibkoch said:Thanks to all ...
Stacey, I know that God sent you to me in April/May when I was at my lowest during the end of treatments. I expect that he again sent you to me to lift my spirits, give me good information (as usual) and I'm so very thankful. Right now we are leaning towards Seattle for surgery. I know that they do robotics for the BOT but am not sure about the neck. I will definitely be sure to ask and then to also check in with the Mayo clinic as well.
Pam, Sweetblood22, Hondo, Joe, and all. Thank you for the words of encouragement, pictures, and sharing with me. It really helps! God bless you.
Gib
Gib and I actually live in the same town. I have met him and his wife. There are not many of us H & N folks around here, it was great to meet up this spring!
I am so grateful to this board and always love to share the support.
From what I have read about the robotics in the Mayo article is that there is NO scar!0 -
radical neck disectionsoccerfreaks said:surgery
Gib,
As you know from reading these pages, everyone's treatment and response to treatment seems to be unique in one way or the other, so I can also describe my own situation to you, or at least answer your questions from my own history's perspective. Take it with a grain of salt, especially it was back in October of '05 that I had the surgery, things have changed since then, and I had TWO ENTs doing the surgery, one of whose specialty was plastic surgery.
I had half of my tongue replaced by muscle and nerves from my left arm. I think it was because of the nerve transplant that my surgery lasted so long (15 hours). I also had a radical neck dissection. I then spent four days in an induced coma. I have yet to meet another person here who went through the exact thing I did, so, again, take this with a grain of salt.
1. I would bet that you will be on a PEG tube. Your surgical wounds will need time to heal, there will likely be swelling, and most of us report issues with eating even many years later (I am now nearly six years out, and still working on eating some things whose texture, for example, makes it difficult to get down). I am off the tube now for nearly two years, so you CAN hope/expect to remove it, maybe sooner than later, as some others will tell you.
2. Loaded question, indeed! Depends on size and location of tumor(s) among, perhaps, other things beyond my knowledge.
3. Salivary glands, as far as I know, are impacted by radiation treatment rather than surgery, unless your doctors have reason to suspect they are also diseased.
4. Following my surgery in October (and subsequent chemo and seven weeks of rads, I was advised not to return to work until April of '06, but went back in February, probably not the best of ideas, but I did it.
5. Probably will talk different. The tongue has a tremendous amount to do with speech. You will like acquire a speech therapist (to help with both speech and swallowing). In my case, I sometimes have to tell people, especially on the phone, that I am not drunk, because of the slur. I am understood, but some consanants elide (get skipped over or are hard to say). I can't whistle anymore either.
6. Mine is not so bad, really.
7. Perhaps they have. I hope so!
Best wishes for successful surgery, recovery, and eradication of the cancer.
Take care,
Joe
Let me start by saying i am new here i did not know this was here. I also had a radical neck disection 12.5 hrs surgery 3 day coma and 15 days in icu. they removed 1/2 of the base of my tongue removed most of my soft pallet removed my left tonsil and replaced all of this with a patch from my left arm. 7 years out and i still have problems eating some things, mostly meat thats not processed. ihave to always have something to drink because of saliva not working right. my cancer went up my spine to about 1 inch from my skull. I wemt back to work 8 weeks later on light duty. I still have headaches all the time and talk funny but i am alive and that is all that realy matters . I hope and pray that all is well. I will write more later if thats ok i have to get back to work.
Doug (semihauler)0 -
!semihauler said:radical neck disection
Let me start by saying i am new here i did not know this was here. I also had a radical neck disection 12.5 hrs surgery 3 day coma and 15 days in icu. they removed 1/2 of the base of my tongue removed most of my soft pallet removed my left tonsil and replaced all of this with a patch from my left arm. 7 years out and i still have problems eating some things, mostly meat thats not processed. ihave to always have something to drink because of saliva not working right. my cancer went up my spine to about 1 inch from my skull. I wemt back to work 8 weeks later on light duty. I still have headaches all the time and talk funny but i am alive and that is all that realy matters . I hope and pray that all is well. I will write more later if thats ok i have to get back to work.
Doug (semihauler)
Welcome, Doug! Great group here which has become much more active in recent years, I think because survival rates are going up, although I could be wrong about that. I DO know that this particular forum has seen a decided increase in activity over the last several years and much of the dialogue is meaningful and helpful, coming from people who are knowledgeable, generous, and kind. As has been said from time to time, it's a crummy club but the membership is outstanding.
It sounds as though you and I have had similar experiences with respect to the surgery (right down to the 'patch' from the left arm) and with respect to ensuing events as well.
I am, nearly six years out, beginning to eat a lot of things I could not eat a year ago (pastrami among the latest, of all things) so there is hope that your ability to eat non-processed meats will come. (I started the same way, actually: processed fish, from places like burger doodle and long johns and so on were much easier than real fish; same with burgers).
Keep trying, keep trying!
Hope and Humor!
Take care,
Joe0 -
Hi Dougsemihauler said:radical neck disection
Let me start by saying i am new here i did not know this was here. I also had a radical neck disection 12.5 hrs surgery 3 day coma and 15 days in icu. they removed 1/2 of the base of my tongue removed most of my soft pallet removed my left tonsil and replaced all of this with a patch from my left arm. 7 years out and i still have problems eating some things, mostly meat thats not processed. ihave to always have something to drink because of saliva not working right. my cancer went up my spine to about 1 inch from my skull. I wemt back to work 8 weeks later on light duty. I still have headaches all the time and talk funny but i am alive and that is all that realy matters . I hope and pray that all is well. I will write more later if thats ok i have to get back to work.
Doug (semihauler)
I too did not know about CSN for years until I found it by accident just looking for a post about NPC Cancer. Welcome to our family here and hope you plan to stay for a while. A lot of us stay here to help others who are just starting the journey, I wished many of times while in treatment for someone to talk too who understood what I was going through.
Best of all things to you my friend
Hondo0 -
Thank youHondo said:Hi Doug
I too did not know about CSN for years until I found it by accident just looking for a post about NPC Cancer. Welcome to our family here and hope you plan to stay for a while. A lot of us stay here to help others who are just starting the journey, I wished many of times while in treatment for someone to talk too who understood what I was going through.
Best of all things to you my friend
Hondo
Thank you all for making me feel welcome, its nice to know there are people to talk to who understand. For 7 years Ive been looking for help with questions. I cant seem to find anybody here in Az. that understands what im going thru. They took all of the muscle tissue from the front of my neck, and 105 lymph glands, and most of my salyva glands, I have to carry a glass of water every where I go. what can i do about dry mouth at night, i wake up 3-4 times a night to drink because of dry mouth?0 -
I had my left submandibularsemihauler said:Thank you
Thank you all for making me feel welcome, its nice to know there are people to talk to who understand. For 7 years Ive been looking for help with questions. I cant seem to find anybody here in Az. that understands what im going thru. They took all of the muscle tissue from the front of my neck, and 105 lymph glands, and most of my salyva glands, I have to carry a glass of water every where I go. what can i do about dry mouth at night, i wake up 3-4 times a night to drink because of dry mouth?
I had my left submandibular salivary gland removed and radiation, I am very dry too. I use biotene spray all day, biotene rinse, oral balance dry mouth moisturizer and the dry mouth gel at night, C. O. Bigelow no 502 Mint lip balm from Bath & Body Works.
Stoppers 4 is used by a bunch of folks on this board, GC Dry Mouth Gel, and Oasis.
I will google and work on some links for you to the products, so you know what to look for.
EDIT: I am also going to add this to the HNC Superthread for future reference. Different products work better for different people. Hoping you will find a combo that works best for you.
BIOTÈNE PRODUCTS
GC DRY MOUTH GEL
OASIS DRY MOUTH PRODUCTS
STOPPERS 4
CO BIGELOW LIP BALM moisturizes lips and keeps mouth moister
TOOTHETTE ORAL MOUTH MOISTURIZER. Nurses in radiology oncology gave me packs with this in it. Also contained a rinse and sponges on a stick to brush with when a toothbrush was too painful.0 -
Post surgery update ...sweetblood22 said:Neck Dissection pix.
I had 23 lymphnodes and my left salivary gland removed.
THE DAY AFTER MY NECK DISSECTION
YOU CAN BARLEY SEE MY SCAR NOW. ZOOM IN ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE PICTURE. MY LEFT SIDE OF MY NECK.
That is me and my niece at her graduation this June.
My friends,
Thanks again for all of your contributions to this board. I was very scared about this surgery but your comments back in August helped calm me down and get me mentally prepared so I wasn't a basket case prior to surgery. I'd like to share w/you some notes from my surgery and the post surgery biopsy results which I received today.
As explained, I need two surgeries. For the BOT, I was hoping to accomplish this via robotics. I researched the Mayo clinic in MN (Dr Moore) as well as the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (Dr. Mendez). Turns out those two Dr's knew each other as the number of Dr's that do transoral robotic surgery is a very small community. I selected Seattle for it's proximity to my home as well as my sister lives there.
Surgery was on a Friday. Assisted by the robot, Dr Mendez removed my right lingual tonsil at the BOT and in three spots dug down into the tongue base itself. Initial biopsy during the surgery showed clear margins throughout. He then did the neck dissection which I'm understanding approximately 40 lymph nodes were removed. Post surgery, I stayed in the hospital over the weekend but I was discharged on Monday. Somebody had told me that compared to chemo/rads, this would be a breeze but I didn't believe until I experienced it. I'm literally tickled at how quickly I'm able to function and rebound from this surgery. The only thing that didn't go so smoothly was my transition to lower meds this past weekend. It was not good and as such I didn't eat for about 48 hrs. I've lost 7lbs since surgery and over 25% of my body weight had already been lost via treatment so I've got to keep up my body weight ...
Dr Mendez, his staff, and those at the UW medical center were truly awesome. I cannot recommend him enough and wish I'd seen him prior to chemo/rads. People (janitors, secretaries, nurses, residents) at the UW med center went of their way to tell me what a wonderful Dr and more importantly, wonderful human being he was. He definitely didn't disappoint. If anyone wants his contact information, feel free to ping me and I'll gladly send you his information.
Lastly, the final biopsy report came in tonight. Again the tongue showed clear margins. The neck had one lymph node (the original one that had shown activity) that was still active. There were multiple nodes tested on the two layers below this active node. All other nodes came back negative for cancer.
So at this point I believe I can call myself a survivor. I understand that the future holds no guarantees for me but I'll take today. It is a nice gift to have!
God Bless all of you!
Gib0 -
I am glad you are done withgibkoch said:Post surgery update ...
My friends,
Thanks again for all of your contributions to this board. I was very scared about this surgery but your comments back in August helped calm me down and get me mentally prepared so I wasn't a basket case prior to surgery. I'd like to share w/you some notes from my surgery and the post surgery biopsy results which I received today.
As explained, I need two surgeries. For the BOT, I was hoping to accomplish this via robotics. I researched the Mayo clinic in MN (Dr Moore) as well as the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (Dr. Mendez). Turns out those two Dr's knew each other as the number of Dr's that do transoral robotic surgery is a very small community. I selected Seattle for it's proximity to my home as well as my sister lives there.
Surgery was on a Friday. Assisted by the robot, Dr Mendez removed my right lingual tonsil at the BOT and in three spots dug down into the tongue base itself. Initial biopsy during the surgery showed clear margins throughout. He then did the neck dissection which I'm understanding approximately 40 lymph nodes were removed. Post surgery, I stayed in the hospital over the weekend but I was discharged on Monday. Somebody had told me that compared to chemo/rads, this would be a breeze but I didn't believe until I experienced it. I'm literally tickled at how quickly I'm able to function and rebound from this surgery. The only thing that didn't go so smoothly was my transition to lower meds this past weekend. It was not good and as such I didn't eat for about 48 hrs. I've lost 7lbs since surgery and over 25% of my body weight had already been lost via treatment so I've got to keep up my body weight ...
Dr Mendez, his staff, and those at the UW medical center were truly awesome. I cannot recommend him enough and wish I'd seen him prior to chemo/rads. People (janitors, secretaries, nurses, residents) at the UW med center went of their way to tell me what a wonderful Dr and more importantly, wonderful human being he was. He definitely didn't disappoint. If anyone wants his contact information, feel free to ping me and I'll gladly send you his information.
Lastly, the final biopsy report came in tonight. Again the tongue showed clear margins. The neck had one lymph node (the original one that had shown activity) that was still active. There were multiple nodes tested on the two layers below this active node. All other nodes came back negative for cancer.
So at this point I believe I can call myself a survivor. I understand that the future holds no guarantees for me but I'll take today. It is a nice gift to have!
God Bless all of you!
Gib
I am glad you are done with this. How come you wish you had seen the surgeon before chemo/rads?
Blessings to you and your family,
Stacey0 -
Maybe There Are No Guaranteesgibkoch said:Post surgery update ...
My friends,
Thanks again for all of your contributions to this board. I was very scared about this surgery but your comments back in August helped calm me down and get me mentally prepared so I wasn't a basket case prior to surgery. I'd like to share w/you some notes from my surgery and the post surgery biopsy results which I received today.
As explained, I need two surgeries. For the BOT, I was hoping to accomplish this via robotics. I researched the Mayo clinic in MN (Dr Moore) as well as the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (Dr. Mendez). Turns out those two Dr's knew each other as the number of Dr's that do transoral robotic surgery is a very small community. I selected Seattle for it's proximity to my home as well as my sister lives there.
Surgery was on a Friday. Assisted by the robot, Dr Mendez removed my right lingual tonsil at the BOT and in three spots dug down into the tongue base itself. Initial biopsy during the surgery showed clear margins throughout. He then did the neck dissection which I'm understanding approximately 40 lymph nodes were removed. Post surgery, I stayed in the hospital over the weekend but I was discharged on Monday. Somebody had told me that compared to chemo/rads, this would be a breeze but I didn't believe until I experienced it. I'm literally tickled at how quickly I'm able to function and rebound from this surgery. The only thing that didn't go so smoothly was my transition to lower meds this past weekend. It was not good and as such I didn't eat for about 48 hrs. I've lost 7lbs since surgery and over 25% of my body weight had already been lost via treatment so I've got to keep up my body weight ...
Dr Mendez, his staff, and those at the UW medical center were truly awesome. I cannot recommend him enough and wish I'd seen him prior to chemo/rads. People (janitors, secretaries, nurses, residents) at the UW med center went of their way to tell me what a wonderful Dr and more importantly, wonderful human being he was. He definitely didn't disappoint. If anyone wants his contact information, feel free to ping me and I'll gladly send you his information.
Lastly, the final biopsy report came in tonight. Again the tongue showed clear margins. The neck had one lymph node (the original one that had shown activity) that was still active. There were multiple nodes tested on the two layers below this active node. All other nodes came back negative for cancer.
So at this point I believe I can call myself a survivor. I understand that the future holds no guarantees for me but I'll take today. It is a nice gift to have!
God Bless all of you!
Gib
But it sounds like you did get a nice gift - with a big bow. Enjoy it.0
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