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Navigating my way through throat cancer
Head & Neck Cancer | Last Active: Mar 15 5:43am | Replies (46)Comment receiving replies
Had my PET scan this morning and met the surgeon along with a few other members of the team at the Mayo Clinic , will be having surgery in about 10 days on March 23 to remove my left tonsil with about a grape size tumor and a couple cancerous lymph nodes. I will be in a test study on low-dose radiation for tonsil cancer so hopefully if everything goes right, I won’t need the full six weeks. We’ll know more once the surgery happens and the lymph nodes are examined. Glad it was caught early and confident of a good outcome. There is a chance of no chemo or radiation, fingers crossed, but will deal with whatever comes.
Replies to "Had my PET scan this morning and met the surgeon along with a few other members..."
@rllampton - Congrats on getting through one of the hardest / scariest parts of your cancer journey. I'm happy you were able to get into the DART study with the de-escalated treatment program. Like you, I had a little larger primary tumor with two cervical lymph nodes that were excised. I ended up in the same trial with 30gy / twice a day for 10 days, and chemotherapy (Docetaxel) each Monday.
My ENT was Katy Van Abel, MD, and coincidently, the surgery was just wrapping up exactly four months ago to the hour. She and her team were outstanding. I couldn't have been in better hands. I'm having my first PET scan at Mayo along with a NavDX test on March 23rd - 25th. You will be in my prayers for peace and healing.
I continue to be grateful for such excellent and compassionate care. I've learned so much and have learned that taking things one day at a time helps me avoid the frequent feelings of being overwhelmed. Feel free to follow up if I can be helpful in any way.
@rllampton Good luck. I was in the DART 2.0 trial as well, and was lucky - got to stop proton therapy early. It isn’t easy, though it seems so at first. Follow their directions and get used to the phrase, “We have the beam. Do not swallow.” 😉
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@rllampton
Who is your ENT at Mayo?