Ten years ago today, I woke up from what was to have been minor

[sinkingfeeling]

surgery to remove a benign lymph node, to be told they had discovered Stage IV cancer on both my tonsils. It was squamous cell carcinoma.
I was shocked as I had had no symptoms at all. I underwent 33 radiation treatments that also destroyed most of my saliva glands and taste buds, covered my throat with blisters, and burnt my neck. Didn't eat for 4 weeks.
But I survived and have been cancer free for TEN years!

[tulipsandroses]

1. Amazing!

Congrats! I wish you long life and health!

[Zoonart]

2. Congrats on having gone through hell and come back to be with us here.

"That which does not kill me, makes me stronger."

Here's to you for 10 years of strength!

[Ninga]

3. A huge tip of the hat 🎩 for reaching such an important milestone!

May your next 100 years be as healthy!

[Ohiogal]

4. From one survivor to another

WAY TO GO!!!!

We need an emoji for a High Five!

[thucythucy]

5. My lifetime sweetie is battling cancer

so your story was very nice to see.

Best of luck to you and yours for a cancer-free future.

[kag]

23. Good luck, thucythucy

Cancer is a serious bitch. I'll be sending some warm thoughts your way.

[thucythucy]

41. Thank you.

Same here.

[raging moderate]

6. Good for you! You beat cancer!

Nasty vicious disease! You can always remember that you won this victory!

[cate94]

7. Congratulations!!

Glad you made it through that horror.

[Lonestarblue]

8. How wonderful that you survived that horror!

May the rest of your years also be cancer free.

[Farmer-Rick]

9. Amazing

My brother had throat cancer and 4 years later they found it again. But it's been 4 years now and no new cancer.

Your 10 years free of cancer gives me hope for my brother.

[Yonnie3]

10. 21 + years since my first diagnosis

Isn't it great to be around?

My cancer was a much different type and the treatments were not as hard on me as what you describe. I lost count of how many treatments (~80) and surgeries (~10) I've had. I think it is about 8 years since my last dance with it.

It's good to be around.

[Duppers]

42. Glad you're here.

[barbtries]

11. wow.

that's amazing! so glad you got through

[Scarsdale]

12. Congratulations to you,

and all the other survivors. Battle well fought.

[Cousin Dupree]

13. Wonderful! Congratulations!

[lillypaddle]

14. Wonderful!

Best wishes into the future.

[volstork]

15. Congratulations!

It's a great feeling to pass that milestone! I hit 15 years last year myself. Wishing you many more milestones!

[Solly Mack]

16. Congrats on the 10 year mark!!

[a kennedy]

17. OMGAWD.......no symptoms.....and all that hurt.

So happy for you being cancer free for these past 10 years...... congratulations.

[CaptainTruth]

18. Yay! Very happy for you!

[MaryMagdaline]

19. Congratulations! Quite a wonderful milestone

[calimary]

20. That's EXCELLENT! Such great news!

[niyad]

21. fantastic! we look forward to having you with us for many years.

[Javaman]

22. Congratulation!

Cancer runs in my family and any success story is wonderful to hear.

Cheers to you! Live long, live well.

[ROB-ROX]

24. I think you are RADIANT

My degree was in health physics and I know the destruction you were exposed to because of radiation treatments in a small area. Ten years ago there was other choices. Today, I am glad that there are other options versus exposure to radiation and toxic chemicals which I know can cause cancer.......You are super human and Live Long And Prospers....

[dlk]

25. Fantastic News! Happy Anniversary and Congratulations!

[panader0]

26. Wow! Happy Anniversary!

[tblue37]

27. Congratulations--and many more years! nt

[Honeycombe8]

28. Did you get your ability to taste back?

If not, how does one handle that? Does a person w/o tasting ability have to force himself to eat, since there is no desire to eat? Protein shakes or something?

Congratulations on coming through the other side of hell.

[sinkingfeeling]

32. Taste returns slowly. With me, the first was salty and the last was

for sweets. Took about two years before chocolate tasted right.

[Honeycombe8]

45. Bummer.

I've had a "taste" of that, when I had a bad case of sinusitis. I could not taste anything. It was very odd, and although my habit was to eat, and my compulsion was to eat, I didn't want to eat much of anything because I couldn't taste it. Hot soups were soothing to me. Still drank coffee.

So glad you made it through. Imagine if they hadn't caught it that early.

[pansypoo53219]

58. so happy your taste buds recovered eventually.

[Codifer]

40. Pot does wonders for the appetite.

For me it has been five years free of throat cancer. The treatments, chemo and radiation, were a bitch; more so because I was 69 at the time. In preparation for the radiation, the tonsils went first. It was two weeks until I could even think about swallowing. As soon as I could swallow, all of my teeth were pulled and when that healed the treatments began. Six weeks of hell that my wife led me safely through (I still don't know how she kept all together). The VA took care of everything quite nicely. I weighed, at the end of it, 125 pounds.

Yes, protein shakes work well, first through a stomach port and then, oh happy day, when I could again swallow. The first sip of coffee was a delight.

Acupuncture on the finger tips improved salivation and gave me a bit of hope and a sense of wonder.

Sorry for rambling.

To the OP. Ten Years... wow. That gives me a great feeling.

Cheers to all

[Honeycombe8]

46. OMG. Horrible experience.

I'm so glad you made it through eventually. Why did they pull your teeth? Had it spread to your jaws or gums?

I'm very afraid of getting cancer, one reason being that I'm not married. So I would be totally reliant on just myself, including travel to and from.

[Codifer]

57. The decision was a precaution.

If there was a chance that a tooth had to be pulled during or after the chemo (plaxitracin?.... a nasty one) then bleeding or infection would be a major problem. Chemo plays hell with the immune system and electrolyte balance. I found it very odd that the chemo would kill sense of taste but enhance the sense of smell to near painful levels.

I still do not know how my wife was able to do all that she did for me plus take care of the puppies, cats and the bird while continuing her teaching and grading. She must have slept sometimes between feeding me every two hours, often by pouring the puree she had made directly down the stomach tube without even waking me. The alternative would have been hospitalization but there is so much of a curing effect from puppies and home.

Best thing to do has been mentioned already, get checkups often and catch the cancer early.

I must add: All praise and thanks to the wonderful staff at David Grant Research Hospital at Travis AFB. They were superb, even to an old sailor.

If you are young, get the vaccination against the HPV virus. If you know young people, urge them to do the same.

Cheers

[Honeycombe8]

59. +1. nt

[ancianita]

29. God bless your heart and soul. Enjoy every minute of rest of your life. Thank you for your story.

It does our collective heart good to know of the strong ones among us. Hope is how we go forward together.

[SnowCritter]

30. Congratulations!

Sometimes a minor procedure can lead to the discover of something much larger.

Here's to many more years cancer free!

P.S.: I, too, am a cancer survivor and it was pure serendipity that mine was discovered. I'm 13 years cancer free.

[NewJeffCT]

31. wow - congratulations on 10 years of being Cancer Free

that's awesome

[Rabrrrrrr]

33. Woo hoo!!

[Pachamama]

34. November 2008 - Melanoma

Happy 10 year Anniversary fellow cancer survivor!!!!

[gademocrat7]

35. Congratulations,sinkingfeeling!

[usaf-vet]

36. Congratulation! All cancer survivors are waiting for those benchmarks. 5 yrs, 10 yrs.. cancer FREE.

I'm a "early years" survivor. In my case prostate cancer. I had robotic surgery to remove the prostate and surrounding cancerous tissue. I then had 32 True Beam radiation treatments.

My post treatment numbers are great PSA 0.00. Hopefully those numbers will continue to the 5 yr., 10 yr. benchmarks and beyond.

BUT MY MESSAGE TO ALL MEN. Get a YEARLY PSA test. Regardless of your GP's recommendation. A simple blood test.

I had yearly PSA with results within normal range numbers (< 4 ng/mL). THEN the national recommendations changed to not needing a yearly PSA. I then went three years before my next blood test. You can guess what happened. A double digit number.

Then it begins, biopsy, diagnosis, second opinions, treatment recommendations, second opinions, decisions..decision. Surgery with months of recovery and side effects. Then follow-up radiation therapy with recovery and side effects.

Three plus years of decision and worry about what next. And of course INSURANCE coverage.

Get a YEARLY PSA test. Regardless of your GP's recommendation.

One final note from my prostate robotic surgeon. A quote " I would like to get my hands on the people that change the testing standards". It was a bad recommendation causing late diagnosis of the cancer.

[get the red out]

37. Glad you are still with us!

I am sorry for you having to go through that, you are a tough person!

[cilla4progress]

38. Amazing! Congrats and

blessings!

I had a dear, dear friend die from this. I am so so happy for your survival!

[Heartstrings]

39. Congratulations!

[Duppers]

43. Wow and Congrats!

That's impressive and we're so happy for you.

[alfredo]

44. Good on you.

Has your tastebuds recovered? How about your salivary glands?

I had stage 3 on the cusp of stage 4 neck and tongue cancer. Mine was also SCC probably caused by HPV. 35 trips to radiation 2 chemo treatments.

I'm slowly recovering. I still can't drink enough liquid without taking the bulk through my feeding tube. I have damage to my throat and will probably have to use the feeding tube for the rest of my life. I'm 73 years old, so the rest of my life is not as long.

My name is Alfredo, and I am a 2Cal Hn junkie.

Stick around for my 10 year anniversary of being Cancer free.

[True Dough]

67. Damn right, Alfredo!

Another decade of great photography, maybe two decades!

[alfredo]

69. I still have little victories, and Little victories make life worth living.

[diva77]

47. Bravo!!!!!

[Pepsidog]

48. That's great news. My 22 year old son had what he was told was a wart.

The biopsy showed squamous cells. He was very scared though they said it was isolated and completely removed. Shocking nonetheless.

[IronLionZion]

49. Congrats!

[LisaM]

50. That's wonderful!

I'm so glad you went in for the other operation.

[MontanaMama]

51. This is wonderful news.

Congratulations on this important milestone.

Win!

[Anon-C]

52. You really encourage me, sinkingfeeling!

[Liberty Belle]

53. Good for you!

I once when in for what I thought would be removal of a cyst on one ovary. Turned out I had endrometriosis that had grown everywhere, even wrapped around my appendix. I wound up having the uterus, an ovary and my appendix all taken out.

tough way to slim up!

[Gothmog]

54. Mazel Tov

[we can do it]

55. Wow awesome!

[Moostache]

56. So happy for your recovery...

I am 3 months away from my 10 years cancer free date...though mine was stage 1 renal cell carcinoma and was treated with surgical ablation of a third of the affected kidney and I was fortunate to avoid chemo.

My mother has beat back cancer 4 times in the last 15 years, though each bout has been progressively rougher.

We are praying for a miracle now for a close family friend. His case is looking very grim though. It's never really over...the fight, the rechecks, the moments of fear, rage, despair...

Congratulations on reaching the milestone date... I hope you keep on winning the fight for years to come.

[seta1950]

60. Fantastic

I’ll drink to the next decade for you

[cpamomfromtexas]

61. Amazing story. Thank you for posting.

Going through this with my husband. Different type but Doctors are positive.

When we first found out the first oncologist said they would keep him comfortable. Then a few days later they called to say they had never seen it caught earlier

Crazy. We ran as fast as we could from that major hospital in Dallas.

Been in hospital for 5 weeks now and another 5 to go.

[sellitman]

62. I'm not religious at all but

Bless you.

[JHan]

63. I'm so happy for you and I needed to hear something like this today

thank you for sharing

[Trueblue Texan]

64. Congratulations!

I’m a survivor also! I always thought such a diagnosis would be the worst thing that could happen. Not true. But it’s certainly hard and it seems life is never quite the same. I’m very happy for you!

[mahina]

65. Happy tenth! So glad you are here.

[Demovictory9]

66. congrats!

[True Dough]

68. You are the most

uplifting "sinkingfeeling" that I know of!

All the best and continued good health!