Well, as was pretty much expected, the Army pathologists agreed with the civilian ones: the spot on the floor of my mouth is indeed cancerous.
That was the subject of the first part of the meeting with the ENT doctors yesterday. The second part of the meeting was how to approach this. As mentioned below, the feeling is that it’s in an easily-accessible location for surgery, so that’s the plan: put me under and slice it out. Beyond ensuring they get it all, the big worry the surgeons have is whether they’ll need to put a skin graft on the resultant post-surgical dip in the mouth’s floor. They’d prefer not to. Sewing some new skin in risks limiting the tongue’s movement a little, to the point of causing a potential lisp. They don’t want that and neither do I.
Anyway, the first step is a CAT scan today at 2:00 pm followed by a pre-surgery orientation meeting on Friday and surgery on Monday. This seeming haste is not due to the severity of the tumor (it’s at T-1 level, meaning no larger than 2cm at its largest point) but rather because they had a hole in the surgical schedule and my procedure fits it very well. The worst part of the scan? I have to fast for four hours prior, which in this case means not only no food but no water. No water? Eeek!
Good luck, buddy. It sounds like you’re in competent hands and I’m glad they could work you in so swiftly. Bummer about the fast.
Good luck. I will be praying for success!
Damn. Sorry to hear this, Steve. Good wishes, crossed fingers, and whatever value my prayers might have.
Damn, Steve, would you stop getting stuff wrong with you? Seriously, though – know that, for as much as good, positive thoughts can do from a distance, you’ve got them.
Real sorry to hear that, dude. Hope all goes well and with a minimum of fuss and worry.
Four hours of fasting? Inhuman! Fingers crossed for you, hope it all goes as smoothly as it should.
Good luck, sir!
Good luck. Stupid cancer.
I know you are not surprised, but it is still massivrly disappointing. I am glad you won’t have to wait and wonder.
Thanks, y’all. I’m back from the scan, which was a piece of cake. Jab you with a needle, attach an injector of saline to the needle, then another of iodine, then roll under a doughnut-shaped machine for 5-10 minutes. Then remove the needle and go home.
The big test is whether the radiologist finds that any cancer cells have spread to the lymph nodes under the jawbones when he/she reads them tomorrow. If it has spread that makes the surgery bigger and longer. That’s the scary part.
Pingback: I have been released! « Linkmeister