Tweet
My Wife Nancy
Hey there Friends, Family, Coworkers,
First some background information. Every year for the past 2 years Nancy has undergone biopsies of growths and irregularities on the inside of her mouth, tongue, cheek, and both times they came back just severe hyperplasias, which are the last step that tissues undergo before they are called cancers. So...aside from removing the irregularities during the biopsies, there wasn't any other treatment possible. So...another year went by. She
started noticing a larger area of irregularity on the inside of her left cheek, and occasionally it would just start bleeding. Her upper gum line next to her cheek was also involved. She saw an oral surgeon, and he did an MRI-scan of her cheek, and found a lesion 2cm's or so in size. This caused him to contact the Oral Oncologist for an appointment ASAP. When she saw him, they said that it now looked like the type of cancer that occurs in the mouth. They did a biopsy, and the results came back as OSSC/Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma. She will be having a CT-scan of her head/shoulders tomorrow/Saturday to check for evidence of spreading to her lymph glands. We just found out that next weekend the doctor wants her to have a PET scan to check for evidence of metastasis...partly because she doesn't have any of the attributes that normally contribute to having OSSC. Oral cancers are more prone to men than women by a 2:1 ratio, and usually have either a long history of smoking or heavy alcohol use. Nancy never smoked, rarely drank. She was exposed to second hand smoke for the early years of her life with her parents that smoked, and then her first husband of 8-10 years. She was diagnosed a few years ago with a mild form of COPD(chronic obstructive pulmonary disease=emphysema) from her few decades of exposure to second hand smoke.
So...we can only assume that it was the second hand smoke exposure that has contributed to her getting this stuff. The Pet Scan will also determine if there is any evidence of metastasis as well as determining if the mouth is the primary site, or if it's actually a secondary site and that she may have a primary tumor elsewhere. Due to the size of the lesion in her cheek and that it has invaded her gums, it will most likely be classified as Stage IV, but the further staging won't be known until after the CT and Pet Scans.
But they are working on getting these done ASAP, the doctor knows how aggressive this type of cancer can be, and that it has a high propensity for metastasis, and so is aiming for surgery fairly soon. But due to the extent of
the lesion, she will be undergoing surgery with several different specialties all at once, they will have to remove some of her cheek, teeth, gum, possibly tongue, possibly cheek/sinus bone and part of her palate, and this will require
oral surgeons, dental surgeon, ENT, plastic surgeon or more. She may also have to have an autologous-free flap graft tissue from her thigh to replace the cheek tissue, perhaps a bone graft as well. She may also have to have a
combination of chemo and radiation therapy. This is going to be a long and hard road for her. The stats are not great, the 2-5 year survival rate is only 53%, and there's a 33% recurrence rate, and the survival rate after
recurrence is much worse.
So...this is what we've recently been dealing with and will be in the not too distant future. Once we have a firm surgery date, then I'll be taking time off for possibly a few weeks afterwards to care for her, and then I will have to take days off periodically to assist her with chemo/radiation treatments and such. Just wanted to get this out to everyone so you all will know what's happening and why I will be needing time off possibly with little pre-notice.
Curtis/TopCatgr
First some background information. Every year for the past 2 years Nancy has undergone biopsies of growths and irregularities on the inside of her mouth, tongue, cheek, and both times they came back just severe hyperplasias, which are the last step that tissues undergo before they are called cancers. So...aside from removing the irregularities during the biopsies, there wasn't any other treatment possible. So...another year went by. She
started noticing a larger area of irregularity on the inside of her left cheek, and occasionally it would just start bleeding. Her upper gum line next to her cheek was also involved. She saw an oral surgeon, and he did an MRI-scan of her cheek, and found a lesion 2cm's or so in size. This caused him to contact the Oral Oncologist for an appointment ASAP. When she saw him, they said that it now looked like the type of cancer that occurs in the mouth. They did a biopsy, and the results came back as OSSC/Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma. She will be having a CT-scan of her head/shoulders tomorrow/Saturday to check for evidence of spreading to her lymph glands. We just found out that next weekend the doctor wants her to have a PET scan to check for evidence of metastasis...partly because she doesn't have any of the attributes that normally contribute to having OSSC. Oral cancers are more prone to men than women by a 2:1 ratio, and usually have either a long history of smoking or heavy alcohol use. Nancy never smoked, rarely drank. She was exposed to second hand smoke for the early years of her life with her parents that smoked, and then her first husband of 8-10 years. She was diagnosed a few years ago with a mild form of COPD(chronic obstructive pulmonary disease=emphysema) from her few decades of exposure to second hand smoke.
So...we can only assume that it was the second hand smoke exposure that has contributed to her getting this stuff. The Pet Scan will also determine if there is any evidence of metastasis as well as determining if the mouth is the primary site, or if it's actually a secondary site and that she may have a primary tumor elsewhere. Due to the size of the lesion in her cheek and that it has invaded her gums, it will most likely be classified as Stage IV, but the further staging won't be known until after the CT and Pet Scans.
But they are working on getting these done ASAP, the doctor knows how aggressive this type of cancer can be, and that it has a high propensity for metastasis, and so is aiming for surgery fairly soon. But due to the extent of
the lesion, she will be undergoing surgery with several different specialties all at once, they will have to remove some of her cheek, teeth, gum, possibly tongue, possibly cheek/sinus bone and part of her palate, and this will require
oral surgeons, dental surgeon, ENT, plastic surgeon or more. She may also have to have an autologous-free flap graft tissue from her thigh to replace the cheek tissue, perhaps a bone graft as well. She may also have to have a
combination of chemo and radiation therapy. This is going to be a long and hard road for her. The stats are not great, the 2-5 year survival rate is only 53%, and there's a 33% recurrence rate, and the survival rate after
recurrence is much worse.
So...this is what we've recently been dealing with and will be in the not too distant future. Once we have a firm surgery date, then I'll be taking time off for possibly a few weeks afterwards to care for her, and then I will have to take days off periodically to assist her with chemo/radiation treatments and such. Just wanted to get this out to everyone so you all will know what's happening and why I will be needing time off possibly with little pre-notice.
Curtis/TopCatgr
)
Comment