Took a 3 day trip to St Louis in the Barnes Hospital Area last week. Got in a bad knife fight and the mugger took all of my lymph nodes on the right side.
I woke up three weeks ago wed. and noticed something funny feeling under my right jaw. I poked around and found a small pea size lump that was tender. My new grandbaby was coming that day, so I let it ride, hoping for the best.
Things calmed down from that and on Monday, I made the appt. Thurs comes and I am facing the doc. It takes him a while to find it his self. Did an ultrasound and decided to biopsy, just as a precaution since cancer has been there before, on the other side. I got the call the following Tues afternoon, cancer is back. Squamous cell carcinoma. Nurse laid out my plans, Friday Pet test, Tuesday surgical removal of remaining lymph nodes.
Tuesday was a walk in the park compared to the last. 2 hour surgery and 2 days in hospital. Pain was minimal this time, only a few Tylenol to knock the pain. New scars, new numbness, stiff neck. Otherwise, good to go. Will find out on Wednesday what my next step will be, probably a stint with the nuclear med guys.