Update and plans moving forward

Good morning! Just wanted to check in and say hello, and thank everyone for all the initial support I received for my husband!  We met with the Head and Neck surgeon last Friday. The plan is to have TORS surgery in about 2 1/2 weeks to remove/ look for the Primary by removing and taking biopsies from the Tonsillar region, where the doctor feels the primary is likely ( Primary not seen on PET). At the same time, nodes will be removed and biopsied as well on the left, as there was activity on the PET in the lymph node on left side. He will also biopsy a node on the right, as there was a small amount of uptake there on PET, as well. Our doctor said he feels this area is most likely a false positive, but we have to “ prove” that for completeness. It was explained to us that by doing the TORS surgery, and if we can identify the primary, and get recommended clean margins, the amount of postoperative radiation may be able to be reduced, and may be able to be limited to the left side of neck. Chemo therapy will also be evaluated based on staging of disease after all information/ pathology obtained. The information will be presented to the tumor board, and postoperative follow up and recommendations proceed from that. My husband is comfortable with this plan, and the surgeon, who is the department head of the Head and Neck Cancer/ ENT surgery department seems very confident, and very knowledgeable related to research, etc. He was very patient, and explained rationale for what he was doing. I’m at the point where I am just having to trust that this is a busy Head and Neck department with lots of experience, so am going with their recommendations. My only question is, and I forgot to ask last Friday because I was overwhelmed with information, is why isn’t my husbands case INITIALLY evaluated by the tumor board, before surgery? This is an NCI Accredited program, so I thought that happened before any treatment plan....ie surgery. But that’s where we’re at. How does that sound to you experienced veterans in this journey? Sorry for the long post, and please know how much I appreciate all your help and time! ( also, MG, if you see this, I tried to respond to your email, but I must be doing something wrong.....would not let me send a private message, but thanks for the great information you sent!! )

Again, many thanks!

Elizabeth