Lara and I met with 2 oncologist on Friday. One was a radiation oncologists and one was a chemotherapy oncologists. Based on our conversations we have learned that I have nasal cavity cancer not skin cancer. This is a rare form of cancer but they did not indicate it was untreatable.
On the upside the location of the cancer is in an area of the head where there are not a lot of lymph cells so the chances of the cancer spreading is a fair amount lower than if the cancer was in my tongue or throat.
We have several ext steps. I need to get several additional images taken. One MRI of my head and a Pet scan of my entire body. The MRI of the head is to see if everything is OK in my head. Not that it was ever normal. The Pet scan is of my full body to see if the cancer is spread. I will get an injection of glucose to assist the doctors as cancer cells will go after the glucose much more actively than non-cancer cells.
If we find that it has not spread I will start tow types of cancer treatment within a few weeks.
1. Radiation treatments - I will receive radiation treatments 5 days a weeks for 20 minutes a day for 7 weeks or so. Radiation treatments involve pointing several radiation beams as a very specific area where the cancer is estimated to be.
2. Chemotherapy treatments - I will receive 3 separate chemotherapy treatments over a 7 week period. I will be injected with a drug call Cisplastin. It is an aggressive drug and I am only getting this particular drug due to my younger age and good overall health.
If the cancer has spread we will need to devise a new game plan.
Please remember at this time there is no indication that the cancer has spread. The initial pathology report showed no signs that it has spread. The upcoming X-rays will help determine that.
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