So, I woke up on June 21 at a reasonable hour and did the usual things. While looking in the mirror I noticed there was what appeared to be a swollen gland on the right side of my neck. I didn't give it a great deal of thought as I thought it would go away by itself. Two days later it was still there. Since we were leaving on vacation on the 30th I thought it might be wise to see my doctor.
I made an appointment for the 23rd. The doctor felt around and told me it was probably an infection and put me on a weeks worth of antibiotic which he felt would probably knock it out. If not, I was to see him upon our return. It didn't work. Since there was no pain I wasn't too concerned. We went on our vacation and upon returning I made another appointment for the 16th of July.
The doctor felt a CT scan would be in order and set up an appointment to have one run on July 17th. After seeing the results he decided I should see an ENT doctor and suggested I see Sam Weber. I called for an appointment and was told the earliest available one would be mid to late August. I told the receptionist my wife would find that totally unacceptable and she would call to make the appointment. She did and my appointment was set for July 24th. Dr. Weber assured me that whatever I had was fixable and sent me off to have a brain scan and an ultrasound with a needle biopsy. The brain scan was unrelated to the lump on my neck and had more to do with my hearing loss which I have had for a long time. The ultrasound needle biopsy was to be done at St. Lukes Hospital. That date was for the 31st of July.
That was a fun procedure. My neck was jabbed 8 times and cells were removed. They came back positive for cancer in the lymph nodes; however they were unable to make a determination as to whether or not the thyroid was involved. Dr. Weber told me he was going to make an appointment for me to see his brother, Dr. Randall Weber, Chairman of the Department of Head and Neck Surgery at M.D.Anderson Cancer Center, and purported to be the best in this field and the best in the country. This is very important because that is always what you want. Keep in mind that 50% of all doctors practicing graduated in the bottom half of their class.
After meeting with him, he set up appointments for bloodwork, X-rays and EKG. On August 7 I had another CT scan and another ultrasound with needle biopsy. I was told I would hear from Dr. Weber on Tuesday, August 4th. When I didn't hear by 4:00 I called and left a message with his nurse and was told he would call me. That night at 8:00 he did. He said there was cancer in the lymph node on the right side of my neck but they still did not have a definite primary source as he felt it was not in the thyroid. He told me his team would set up further appointments which would ultimately lead to an evaluation and a course of treatment.
I received a call on Wednesday, August 12th telling me my first appointment would be that afternoon with an Radiation Oncologist at 2:00. Sally picked me up and we headed for the hospital. I was handed my appointment schedule when I checked in.
Our meeting was with Dr. Beth Beadle. We hit it off very well and this is good because she will be my Radiologist. She told me that when I completed the rest of my tests they would have a difinitive answer to most, if not all of my questions. However, at this time she told me the course of action appeared to be that of chemo and radiation. This assumes that the primary source is not the thyroid as that would entail surgery. She said there would be two months of chemo followed by 6 1/2 weeks of radiation, 5 days a week. She pulled no punches and said the first two weeks of radiation would be easy and then it would get hard. She said that in the third week I would start to get mouth sores and my throat would bother me. She said this would get progressively worse. She also stated that I would be given pain medicine to control the pain and that I would survive this and hopefully at the end be cured. She said they would be watching my weight very carefully as they didn't want me to lose any. I explained that I could certainly afford to lose 5 pounds but she said no to that. So, now I had an inkling of what I could expect. Knowing is better than not knowing. I will meet with a Medical Oncologist to discuss chemo next week.
Before I start the course of treatment I have other tests forthcoming. On Friday, August 14 I have a PET scan which will provide clearer imaging and enable them to see things that were not on the CT scan. I am also meeting with a Dental Oncologist as they want to make certain I don't have any problems with my teeth. I will see Dr. Weber again on the 27th to get results of the tests. He will schedule the last test, at least I think it is the last test, which is an examination of my nose, mouth and throat under anesthesia in which cells will be taken from any suspicious areas. I see an Anesthesiologist following my appointment with Dr. Weber.
More information as it becomes available!
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