Get your ass to a specialist ASAP?
So I was diagnosed with Cancer at the beginning of February.
Since then I've been on a whirlwind adventure consulting with top specialists all over the country in order to decide on the best course of treatment for my situation. The upside to this time consuming course of action is that I am going to be treated by the very best in the world. The downside is that I really haven't had enough time to communicate with any concerned friends about what has been happening
(I'd prefer to call everyone individually, but I just don't have the minutes for it & that much talking would certainly irritate the tumor on my tongue so hooray for the internet).
Details:
I have a stage two squamous cell carcinoma located on the side of my tongue.
It does not appear to have spread beyond the primary tumor on my tongue, but there is about a 20% chance there may be microscopic cancer cells in my lymph system that the scans can't pick up (there's always a freaking catch).
So far none of the doctors I've talked to are sure of exactly what caused it to appear in me at such a relative young age. So far tests to identify any of the typical culprits: Excessive Tobacco & Alcohol consumption or a Viral infection from something like HPV have all come back negative (yeah, surprised me too - cause I realize I definitely qualify for at least one of those risk factors).
Apparently there has been a major increase over the past few years in the appearance of oral cancer in young people with a surprising percentage caused by none of the known major risk factors (we're just lucky I suppose).
Treatment:
I'm going to be treated at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston by the Head (sorry) of their head & neck surgery division. MD Anderson is ranked at the #1 cancer center in the country & my doctor is probably the most experienced guy in the world in regards to this type of cancer.
They will be surgically removing the tumor from my tongue & then working with a plastic surgeon to rebuild my tongue using a skin flap from somewhere else on my body (I just hope it's not a part that grows hair).
Due to the swelling of the tongue after this type of surgery I will need a feeding tube & tracheostomy during my hospital stay.
They also will be performing a neck dissection to remove a few of lymph nodes so that they can test them & make sure the cancer hasn't spread.
If the lymph nodes are clean then I won't even need any radiation or further treatment.
The surgery is scheduled for March 2nd.
Recovery:
After the surgery I'll be spending a week in the hospital in order to let my tongue & neck heal.
I will probably be very bored when I'm not tripping balls on some crazy powerful drugs.
After that if it turns out my lymph nodes are clean they estimate about a 4-6 week recovery time where I'll have to remain in the Houston area, but by the end of that I should be close to being completely healed.
My speech will probably be affected somewhat (especially at first), but as my tongue fully heals it should be as minimal as can be.
If it turns out there are cancer cells in my lymph system the process will stretch out a little bit longer as they are taken care of with radiation - however, every doctor I've talked to agrees that we caught this early enough so that in the long run I should have a full recovery & be perfectly fine.
I have been updating my twitter account http://www.Twitter.com/PeterRobards (yes, now increase my follower count out of pity) through out a lot of this process & have a few more tests Monday & Tuesday before surgery which I will try to update about on there. Also I hope to be able to keep it update it while I'm in the hospital & recovering (though I have no idea how coherent some of my posts might be immediately after surgery - or if I get service in my room).
To all of you who have already expressed your support thank you so much & to those who might be just learning about this now thank you too - I'm looking forward to celebrating my full recovery with you guys asap & turning my huge repertoire of cancer bits into a somewhat lucrative comedy career.
~Peter
PS. I'm typing this while waiting in the airport before I head to Houston, so if there are any spelling or grammatical mistakes, give me a break, it's not my fault it's the cancer's.
