Hi everyone, I am new here. I am 47 years old and live in the northeast US.
In mid January I developed a growth on the right side of my neck, in my
lymph node.  It grew from nothing to the size of a small banana in a week
and was only on the one side.  I had previously been ill with bronchitis and
I went to my doctor, who examined me and checked my lymph nodes as  part of
his normal exam. As I recovered from the bronchitis the growth started, and
after a week I returned to my doctor and  he examined the swelling and said
that I could have Lymphoma.  He referred me to an ENT, who ordered a CT
scan, chest X-ray and needle biopsy. He also arrranged for me to have
surgery and on February 3 he performed a radical neck dissection.  He
removed 41 nodes and found cancer in only one, but in that node it had
spread beyond the node into my neck. Along with the nodes he also removed
all the muscle and other tissue in the neck. My doctors have diagnosed me
with Squamos Cell Carcinoma, stage three, unknown primary. They feel that my
scans so far have been clear and a triple endoscopy done at surgery showed
no indication of any cancer. They feel thet they removed the majority of the
cancer during surgery and if I have a primary site elsewhere it is very
small and should be eliminated by chemotherapy. They believe that the cancer
is actually in my throat and will be eliminated through radiation therapy.
I am told that I have an excellent prognosis for a full recovery.  I am now
scheduled to have radiation therapy on my neck and chemotherapy to begin in
the second week of March and proceed concurrently. In advance of this I am
having a PEG tube inserted in order to have a way of getting nutrition and
fluids in case I have too much discomfort in my throat during radiation. I
will receive daily injections of a medication to help salvage my salivary
glands and protect them from being destroyed. I will be prescribed a chemo
drug called Cisplatin and will have it IV once a week for about six weeks. I
have been advised of a wide range of possible side effects but have been
told that because of my size, age, and general good health that I should be
able to tolerate chemo with only minor discomfort.  I am told that radiation
may not be that bad and  I may not need the PEG tube in the long run.On the
other hand they are also advising me that there is a possibility that I will
lose some or all of my teeth, and that I will lose my sense of taste, at
least for a while.  I have also been advised that I may need speech therapy
following radiation.  I am feeling  very comfortable and confident in my
physicians, and I feel that I have been getting excellent care.  I have the
benefit of having other medical people in the family who have made the same
observation. I feel very fortunate to have addressed this right away as I
have had no other symptoms. At this point I feel I can face the treatment
process and endure it and am thankful that I don't have an obvious primary
site at this point. I am also very fortunate to have access to quality
medical care and facilities here in my town. I am posting this because I am
new to this newsgroup and I have found some of it to be helpful. I wanted to
post my experience so far so that others can read it as it may be helpful
for others goimg through the same thing.  I hope this post helps to generate
a series of other posts which will provide a constructive dialogue about
cancer that we can all benefit from.  I am not interested in specific
medical advice and am trying to only listen to the people who are treating
me as they have all the facts about me at their disposal. I am interested in
other people's experiences though and would like to hear whatever it is they
think is important to say about their experience. I am interested in
strategies for coping with the effects of treatment that worked for them and
their families. I am interested in anecdotes about PEG tubes and how that
worked for them.  I wish also to say to everyone here who is experiencing
cancer for themselves or in their family that I hope you are doing well and
are strong. Best wishes to you  and thanks for reading this.