TxN2b and surgery date

micktissue · January 2010

I have my surgery date and my Dr feels very good, but cautions that the "final pathology" will determine prognosis. I go under the knife for a selective neck dissection a week from tomorrow (Jan 15). Wish me luck!

He also said I am staged at TXN2BM0, essentially stage 4. Not the greatest of news, but I am strong, young-ish (54), and know I will survive this. The Dr is talking about possibly not recommending rads to the nasopharynx because he says a recurrence is better treated if there's been no previous radiation. They will radiate my neck where the tumors were, but as far as the primary, they still can't find it.

The surgery will include a selective or random biopsy of the throat to try and locate the primary, but he's not confident it will be there ("your body has probably already gotten rid of it", he said).

Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers.

Warmly,

Mick

Hondo · January 2010

Mick

You are now and will continue to be in prayer my friend, keep your positive attitude.

God Bless and keep you

train-nut · January 2010

Good Wishes
Mick,

You'll do great. I'll be rooting for you. Rich P.S They told me that as I was coming out of the anesthetic I kept asking if my "brain infusion" was done...sometimes we get our best ideas while we're sleeping.

ratface · January 2010

train-nut said:
Good Wishes
Mick,

You'll do great. I'll be rooting for you. Rich P.S They told me that as I was coming out of the anesthetic I kept asking if my "brain infusion" was done...sometimes we get our best ideas while we're sleeping.

So your going with the selective disection?
Hi Mick

My exact staging other than the "X" for unknown primary. I'm 51. You will do fine. Last I heard you were doing a radical disection has that changed to Selective hopefully?

soccerfreaks · January 2010

Good luck!
I am confident that your surgery will go well, Mick.

I am familiar with the notion of awaiting a 'final pathology' to determine prognosis as such was the case for me, particularly with respect to the second round with cancer, in the lungs: they put me under to do a biopsy when a needle biopsy first proved untenable, with the proviso that if the biopsy revealed metastasis from the original head/neck cancer, they would NOT do a lobectomy.

How strange when one is rooting for a lobectomy, eh? Cancer makes for strange logic, it seems. Which is a nice segue, in my mind anyway, to a couple of your doctor's notions that seem less than logical to me.

First, he advised that radiation following surgery might be detrimental to future treatment. I can appreciate that, trust me, but it leads me to wonder, too: Well, if the radiation GETS the strays, there will hopefully not BE a next time.

I am sure your doctor is concerned about not having located the primary, and so is inclined, possibly, to hold off in deferrence to some potential future treatments. Maybe that reasoning is sounder than it sounds to me.

Second, it seems unscientific, frankly, to suggest in what seems like a casual manner that maybe the primary is gone. This is not to advocate that a primary cancer cannot be somehow removed by the body itself, but rather to wonder about the validity of such a supposition without supporting evidence.

Hmmm.

In any event, it is evident that you trust your doctor, and that is most important. It sounds as though much will be revealed as a result of the surgery, and that is not unusual at all.

Take care,

Joe

micktissue · January 2010

soccerfreaks said:
Good luck!
I am confident that your surgery will go well, Mick.

I am familiar with the notion of awaiting a 'final pathology' to determine prognosis as such was the case for me, particularly with respect to the second round with cancer, in the lungs: they put me under to do a biopsy when a needle biopsy first proved untenable, with the proviso that if the biopsy revealed metastasis from the original head/neck cancer, they would NOT do a lobectomy.

How strange when one is rooting for a lobectomy, eh? Cancer makes for strange logic, it seems. Which is a nice segue, in my mind anyway, to a couple of your doctor's notions that seem less than logical to me.

First, he advised that radiation following surgery might be detrimental to future treatment. I can appreciate that, trust me, but it leads me to wonder, too: Well, if the radiation GETS the strays, there will hopefully not BE a next time.

I am sure your doctor is concerned about not having located the primary, and so is inclined, possibly, to hold off in deferrence to some potential future treatments. Maybe that reasoning is sounder than it sounds to me.

Second, it seems unscientific, frankly, to suggest in what seems like a casual manner that maybe the primary is gone. This is not to advocate that a primary cancer cannot be somehow removed by the body itself, but rather to wonder about the validity of such a supposition without supporting evidence.

Hmmm.

In any event, it is evident that you trust your doctor, and that is most important. It sounds as though much will be revealed as a result of the surgery, and that is not unusual at all.

Take care,

Joe

Joe
Hi Joe. Yep you've hit on the essential question to talk over during the post-op recovery: radiate where the *think* the primary might be, or to not. My Dr is not advocating either right now. He's saying "here's what we may find".

My Dr has no answer for why he cannot find the primary and to characterize his response as "casual" is incorrect, so that's on me the way I posted it here. We were talking it through and he was giving his guesses, which is fair. He says we'll know more once we get final pathology and we'll all be better informed about what the next steps might look like.

I am in your camp really when it comes to this, so I think I'd like to be aggressive. I'll keep you all posted.

Warmly,

Mick

micktissue · January 2010

ratface said:
So your going with the selective disection?
Hi Mick

My exact staging other than the "X" for unknown primary. I'm 51. You will do fine. Last I heard you were doing a radical disection has that changed to Selective hopefully?

ratface
Hi ratface. Yes selective is what they're doing. he says that he thinks the nodes are low enough and hot in the way, but wont guarantee anything, which is fair.

Warmly,

Mick

micktissue · January 2010

train-nut said:
Good Wishes
Mick,

You'll do great. I'll be rooting for you. Rich P.S They told me that as I was coming out of the anesthetic I kept asking if my "brain infusion" was done...sometimes we get our best ideas while we're sleeping.

tarin-nut
LOL! I told my wife what you wrote and she's thinking of bringing a recorder! Thanks for the best wishes.

Warmly,

Mick

Tricia02 · January 2010

micktissue said:
Joe
Hi Joe. Yep you've hit on the essential question to talk over during the post-op recovery: radiate where the *think* the primary might be, or to not. My Dr is not advocating either right now. He's saying "here's what we may find".

My Dr has no answer for why he cannot find the primary and to characterize his response as "casual" is incorrect, so that's on me the way I posted it here. We were talking it through and he was giving his guesses, which is fair. He says we'll know more once we get final pathology and we'll all be better informed about what the next steps might look like.

I am in your camp really when it comes to this, so I think I'd like to be aggressive. I'll keep you all posted.

Warmly,

Mick

I AM WITH JOE
On that one. I was told they would "throw the kitchen sink" at it, as their first attempt to treat is their best. Salvage surgery is not so successful. As you say you will know more once you get final pathology.

TxN2b and surgery date

Comments

Discussion Boards