2006 - Nothing here for you

August 2006 - Soon it was seven days after surgery and still no word on a diagnosis. We were in an uncomfortable holding pattern, not knowing clearly what the timeframes and treatments would be, or exactly what cancer would be diagnosed. We weren't taking "leaning toward" SNUC as a commitment.

That Friday I had made plans for lunch with Yani. He works in Radiation Oncology and said that the doctors in his office would be happy to speak with me. I had declined the offer mainly because we didn't have a diagnosis. What would they do - console me?

I arrived to pick up Yani for lunch and he said "Greg, the doctor's expecting you". I thought, well all right, Yani was nice enough to make inquires, I would make the effort to meet with the physician from his office. We had a few minutes to wait so Yani gave me a tour of the radiation therapy suite and a fellow employee began to show how they plan for radiation treatments.

Soon the doctor stopped in and brought me back to his office. We chatted briefly and I explained Robin's six week history, the comment about "leaning toward undifferentiated", and the wait for the pathology results. The doc asked if it was large cell and I said "yes". Hmmm…didn't know that was an important detail. I still don't recall why that was an important detail.

Then the doctor stunned me. He said we "knew enough already" and that there was nothing the folks in our hometown could offer us. He said that we needed to go to the city without hesitation. He described one of his patients who had visited about a small lump in his neck which turned out to cancerous. The patient had declined treatment, but arrived back six weeks later with a lump the size of a football on his neck.

My cell phone was beeping and I pressed the silence button without looking to see who had called.

I thanked the doctor. I didn't see Yani again that day because I immediately left and headed back to my office. Robin had left a message on my cell, the surgeon had instructed us to call. I got back to my desk and we did a three-way teleconference. The surgeon gave us the confirmation on the diagnosis of SNUC. He said he'd made an appointment for us with a local head and neck oncology surgeon for the following Tuesday.