It’s been a week since my diagnosis. It’s been intense and sometimes verging on overwhelming. My tongue is still uncomfortable from my biopsy as Dr. Israel did not remove the tumor, only sampled it. It tends to bleed from time to time so have to be careful not to eat anything spicy or too acidic and remember to take my time with small bites. I’ve been drinking lots of smoothies from Love Juice and eating soup, noodles, tofu, shrimp, hard boiled eggs and other soft foods. Occasionally I really crave something crunchy and salty but that’s not going to happen for a while.
I started doing acupuncture and Neuro Emotional Technique with our wonderful friend Kate Hoffman who happens to be an acupuncture physician. She’s been helping me balance my energy by releasing old emotional pains I no longer need to carry around with me. The technique has been phenomenal in helping me release “stuck” emotions and energy and Kate is wonderful guide.
Dr. Fernandes called me Thursday evening to confirm that the CT scan showed that my lymph nodes are clear of any visible cancer. This is great news!!! The current strategy is to remove the tumor under my tongue along with a 1cm margin along all borders. He will also perform a partial dissection of left side of my neck to remove the lymph nodes closest to the site of my cancer. Even though there is no cancer visible in my lymph nodes there is still a 20% chance that microscopic cancer cells are hiding out there. Removing them allows the doctor to biopsy them to be sure they are absolutely cancer free. If cancer shows up in the biopsy I will need either more surgery or radiation or possibly both. I’m setting my intentions that the biopsy will be negative!
Once I finish treatment and am deemed “cancer free” I will follow up with physical exams every two months for a two year period. Way better than the CT scans I had to have every 3 months for 3 years and 6 months for 2 years after that. I really don’t like that contrast agent they use.
On Friday I stopped by to see Dr. Israel to thank him for his decisive action and to give him an update on my prognosis. He was very pleased with the results and told me how phenomenal Dr. Fernandes is as an oral surgeon. He reconfirmed my belief that although I have cancer this is really a surgical issue and I need to find the best possible surgeon that will look after my quality of life after surgery. I was very concerned about losing my ability to speak and/or my ability to taste. Both are VERY important to me. I told Annabel I would really like to plan a “foodie” vacation to celebrate my recovery. Dr. Fernandes believes I will make a full recovery from this. I am so psyched to hear this!!!
