Whew!

What a long day and it is only 12:00! Mom and Dad went for the PET scan early this morning and stayed for what seemed like eternity. They brought the disc back and we all met at Dr. Hardacre's office about two hours ago. He looked at the PET scan and didn't see any evidence of anything suspicious ANYWHERE in the body except for the small area we have been looking at all week. That is good news! That being said, we still do not have any conclusive evidence that the spot is cancer, just that it lights up and is suspicious. Dr. Hardacre then did a thorough investigation inside his nose and used a scope to go down the back of the nasal cavity and down his throat. Often times when a cancer cell is found in the "head and neck" area without a primary tumor, if they look at the tonsils or the back of the throat and around the voice box they can find it. Once again, he didn't see anything in his investigation that looked anything but normal. That is good too! So, our plan is to have the "whatever it is" removed tomorrow at St. Vincents. They should do a frozen biopsy and be able to say whether or not it is cancer tomorrow, or at least by Friday. It is still the opinion of both doctors that this is a cell from the original tumor that has crossed over even though the chances of that happening are extremely rare. If the mass is cancerous, that is what we pray it will be. That is our best deal! Actually, we can pray that it is just an irritation from the radiation. Wouldn't that be awesome? You never know....all things are possible with GOD and it could happen!

We are still down to meet with the chemotherapy doctor of Friday. This is all scheduled as a precaution so that whatever the test results reveal, we will be ready to move. We did find out that he would definitely be a candidate for the chemo pill instead of IV administration. That is good news too! The side effects are much more tolerable!!! In fact, Dr. Hardacre told us that most patients usually experience a mild case of acne and that is it. So, if indeed it is cancer, we will encourage dad to go for the extra protection and take the pill.

Thank you for your prayers. Keep praying. I will be in touch after the surgery tomorrow.