Over the next fews days/weeks I’ll get everyone up to speed on how we got here. For now, let me sum up. The important thing to know is that I have cancer. Well, two different cancers actually. Basaloid Sqaumous Cell Carcinoma that originated in my thumb and spread to my left armpit and Polymorphous Adenocarcinoma that is located behind my tongue and on the right side of my neck.

Ok, I guess actually I have two metastatic cancers. Boy, I didn’t see that one coming. After what seemed like a never ending stream of appointments and surprises, we have a pretty decent treatment plan locked in. On Monday morning Lindsey and I will arrive at IU Health North bright and early at 5 am. I’ll have Transoral Robotic Surgery (TORS), which means the doctor uses a robot to reach into my neck and cut out the tumor behind my tongue.

Additionally I’ll have a neck dissection. Which sounds a bit more gruesome than it is. I picture that poor formaldehyde soaked pig that I dissected in high school. This time the pig is me, but thankfully there is no formaldehyde involved. We know that there is 1 decent sized tumor in my neck. What we don’t know is if the other lymph nodes around this tumor also are cancerous. This will be an important step in the overall process. If no cancer remains, we are in pretty good shape. It means we caught it early and it didn’t sneak off anywhere else. If they do find additional cancer cells, then all is not lost. It just means there may still be some stray bits out there that have escaped. So they’ll just turn up the radiation and zap me a bit harder than they would have otherwise.

Linsdey, the kids, and I are in good spirits. It’s not like this is our first cancer rodeo. And oh my goodness it will be so much easier to do this with teenagers rather than 3 kids in diapers the first time around and 3 toddlers the 2nd time around.

If you came here from my previous blog (thankyouforanotherday.com) then you know what to expect. If you’re new to this whole “Rob blogs his medical trials and tribulations” thing then welcome. It’s a fun ride with bad writing, dry humor, random thoughts, and a few medical facts thrown in to orient everyone around what is going on. We’re not quite sure how long this journey will be, but it will include at least 2 surgeries, plenty of radiation, and then some immunotherapy for good measure.

The best news though is no chemo. Medicine has advanced a long way since the last time I was treated. And that’s really the important thing. Every day I fight and every day longer I live, more and more technology comes out. Medical advances are made and breakthrough treatments are discovered. It’s just a matter of staying in the ring and fighting long enough.

So here we go again. Round 3 and 4 of kicking cancer’s ass. Not only am I undefeated but I’m stubborn as hell and plan to stick around for awhile. So basaloid squamous cell carcinoma and polymorphous adenocarcinoma get ready (boy I miss the simplicity of telling people I have ALL). The clock is ticking. Your time is short. You need to get the hell out of my body. It’s go time.