My husband is not bright

I've had to wait almost 24 hours to share this, as I wanted to give Doug a chance to post on the H&N list:

Doug had his PET/CT scan last Tuesday and the ENT called with the results Friday. He said he sees no bright spots, which means no cancer large enough to be picked up by the scan.

He will still operate next Tuesday to remove the big cyst (the one in his neck that tipped us off originally - not the primary tumor, as that was in his tonsil and that was removed with a clean margin). He will also take a few nearby lymph nodes to check, but it will be a "partial" neck dissection (smaller than even a "modified" neck dissection) so we are hoping for not much (if any) loss of strength and mobility.

I was so happy when I got the news that I had to hide from my students for a few seconds while I cried. I know it's not over yet, and they could find some live cancer still in that cyst or in the lymph nodes, at which point we go back and do this all again. That part scares me still.

I'm also worried about even the partial dissection. He's worked so hard to get healthy again (and is still so weak - he dressed and skated during warm-ups with one of his teams last night and his legs are now killing him) that I hate to see him laid up with an operation - it will be a good two weeks recovering. On the other hand, we can't skip the operation - if it turns out that there are a few cells in there, it's better to get them now.

We celebrated the good news and are trying not to think about the rest. I had the first really good night's sleep I've had in months last night. Part of me just wants to freeze time and stay right here.