Bad to the Bone

Well, today I was all set to give Dr. O'Sullivan the thumbs up for zapping my tongue when he hit us with a new piece of information: there is a "5% to 10% chance" that radiating the tongue will cause damage to the jawbone. Repairing that damage can require surgery. Keep in mind that radiation is so hard on the mouth, that doctors worry about even extracting a tooth even years after treatment. So jaw surgery? Yikes!

My decision to go for it had basically resulted from weighing the risks of cancer recurrence in the tongue against the long-term side effects of radiating the tongue. Until today, I'd thought those long-term effects were the same as those for radiating the neck, which I'll experience regardless. But this jaw thing has thrown me for a loop. I'm back to not knowing what to do.

Seeing my renewed hesitance, Dr. O'Sullivan offered to review my case with a panel of University Health Network doctors who are meeting this week to discuss cancer patients and their treatments. He expects that they'll agree with Dr. Irish that radiating the tongue is unnecessary. Even so, Dr. O'Sullivan is worried enough by the initial spread of my cancer that he doesn't want to take any chances and so he still recommends treating the tongue. I'm to call him this Thursday to discuss the panel's thoughts. I can make my decision then. In the meantime, preparation will continue for the neck treatment.

And so, today was also my CT planning appointment, which was a replay of the mask-making appointment I had last November 15. They made me a spiffy new mask, but were able to use the same pinpoint tattoo, which means no playing connect the dots on my chest. I don't have a start-date yet for treatment, but they tell me it's usually 7 to 10 days after the planning appointment.

As for chemotherapy, we have our first meeting with the medical oncologist, Dr. Eric Chen, next Tuesday, October 9. Let's hope that appointment is less of a jaw-dropper.