The diagnosis
Our journey with head and neck cancer began in July 2016. Our daughter and 2-year-old grandson were visiting us. My husband, Tom, was away on a business trip. He called me from Atlanta to tell me that he thought he had the mumps. He could not move his neck and there was a large lump on the left side. I dismissed the mumps idea. I had no idea what the problem was but I didn’t think it was the mumps. I talked to my daughter and she felt nervous about her dad coming home with a possible infection that her son might catch. Before stopping home, Tom stopped off at our family physician in town. Thinking it might be an infection, the doctor prescribed antibiotics. Tom came home but kept a safe distance from the family.
Throughout July, Tom had an ultrasound done and a blood test. Not finding the problem, the family doctor referred him to an ear-nose-throat specialist (ENT).
At first, I was leery of the ENT specialist. His website and literature in his waiting room showed an emphasis on cosmetic plastic surgery. I was suspicious that he would not be the best doctor for the situation. I could not have been more wrong. In August, he examined Tom and did a localized biopsy in the office. When the results were negative for cancer, the doctor “didn’t like the results” and scheduled a guided biopsy. In September, two months after the initial lump appeared, Tom was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma. Even after a PET scan, the exact location of the cancer was not known till a September 27 triple endoscopy revealed the location as base of tongue. We learned later that base of tongue cancers often are not detected until Stage 4 because they don’t show up until they travel to another part of the body. In Tom’s case, it traveled from the tongue to the neck in the lymph nodes.
If not for the specialist’s persistence and hesitancy to accept the original findings of the test results, Tom’s cancer would have continued unchecked.
Soon after, Tom began preparation for cancer treatment. (to be continued)