meeting the oncologist.

We liked and trusted our oncologist, Dr. Bill Lydiatt, within minutes of meeting him. He and his brother started the Head & Neck Cancer Center at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. It was easy to have confidence in him because you could tell that he deals with this very kind of cancer day in and day out, and his bedside manner is happy and straight-forward.

We got to read the pathology report from the lymph node biopsy:

LEFT NECK MASS, FINE NEEDLE ASPIRATION:

SCATTERED ATYPICAL SQUAMOUS CELLS IN A BACKGROUND OF NECROTIC DEBRIS, SUSPICIOUS FOR SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA.

Dr. Lydiatt felt around Mike's neck (lymph nodes) and did a careful inspection of his mouth and tongue before doing a scope. Within minutes of inserting the tiny video camera into Mike's nose and throat, he located what he believed was the primary source at the base of Mike's tongue (which was confirmed by a PET scan two days later.)

I got to be in the room for the scope and was amazed that such a small and insignificant-looking bean-sized mass was the culprit we were looking for. I was flooded with thankfulness that we had located it before it got any worse. The room did spin around when Dr. Lydiatt explained that it was sized at T1 (relatively small) but would be Stage 4 since it was already in one and probably in 2-3 lymph nodes. He tried to explain that staging is different in Head & Neck Cancers, but it was hard to hear anything else when you were emotionally flooded. At this stage of knowing what we know, he gave Mike an 85% chance of being cancer-free in 5 years.

I added the little arrows to the scope photo so that you could locate what the doctor believes is the cancer mass that filtered the squamous cells into Mike's lymph nodes.

May I take a moment to thank everyone for the prayers they have prayed for Mike & I on this journey. We need them. We feel them. The reason we started this blog was so that we could take you on this journey with us... one step at a time... one day at a time...