Week 8 – Recovery from the surgical operation and the mental fact that i am now a cancer patient

  • Pain                    8/10
  • Mood                 3/10
  • Energy               3/10

The surgeon gently waked me up, i felt i just had felt asleep and was quite clear in the head without nausea. I could clearly feel that they had worked in my throat, but the medication softened the pain and it was bearable.

My wife came and i asked what time it was, when she told me it was late afternoon, we both knew that the surgery had not gone according to the pla as the surgery was scheduled to 2 hours.

Shortly after the surgeon came and told me the bad news, the lymph node was infected with cancer which had spread to the corresponding lymph node.

They had taken tissue samples in my mouth, gum, throat in order to locate the source and they found the cancer origin in my left tonsil.

Due to my profile of being quite young, healthy and non-smoking, the surgeon told me that with all probability it was HPV tonsil cancer, which despite being serious, is much less life-threatening than regular tonsil cancer, however, they needed to test the tumor in order to be sure.

It was off course a chock and my nearest family was shaken, i now knew that the surgery was only the beginning of a longer battle, which would last months.

The first week after surgery was quite painful, but not unbearable, i could handle the pain it with Paracetamol, i woke up some nights to spit a little blood out, but ice-cubes were very relieving.

Week 7 – The days before the Surgical operation

  • Pain                    None
  • Mood                 5/10
  • Energy               Usual

I was preparing mentally for the surgical operation, i had never been in full narcosis before and the thought scared the hell out of me.

As the control freak i am, i did not fear pain, but i really feared not to wake up again, no matter the fact that full narcosis is totally safe.

I had a consultation with the surgeons where the told me the procedure and what side-effects the surgery could cause, it was primarily a small risk for some nerve damage to the shoulder.

However contrary to the doctors at my local hospital, the surgeons said it was not likely, but they would not totally exclude the risk of cancer.
This was a general frustration i experienced during the examinations before the surgery – different doctors looked at my case and they gave me quite divergent assumptions, which resulted in confusion and uncertainty.

If the surgery went according to the plan, it would last about 2 hours, however if they found anything malignant in the cyst, they would remove my tonsils and polyps besides taking samples in order to locate the source of the malignancy.

I went to the hospital for the surgery in the morning, anxious for the full narcosis, but the narcosis went very well and was not unpleasant at all, i slept very quickly and felt nothing at all.

Week 6 – Results from PET/CET scan and further steps

  • Pain                    None
  • Mood                 9/10
  • Energy               Usual

Hooray! – The results from the PET/CT scan showed no indicative signs of cancer in my body, there was a very small yellow indication around the infected lump in the scan, but the doctors told me it was not indicative of cancer and probably lighted up due to the infection in the cyst.

I was very very relieved and so was my family and parents, for 6 weeks the uncertainty of the seriousness in what caused the swelling, finally ended.
Nevertheless the infected cyst had to be removed, so the doctor transferred me to the main Hospital in Copenhagen to get the cyst surgically removed.

Week 5 – Time for PET/CT scan

  • Pain                    None
  • Mood                 5/10
  • Energy               Usual

The PET/CT scan in many ways resembles the MR scan, however there are noticable differences:

  • The duration of the scan is much shorter,about 15 minutes
  • The PET/CT scanner is not noisy
  • You are not confined at all sides in the PET/CT scanner

So the scan itself is much more pleasant than the MR scan. The preparation time however before this scanning is much more lengthy, first you must not eat before at the scanning day.

First you will be receive a IV radioactive tracer, and then you need to relax for about 60 minutes, before you will be taken to the scanner.

Before the scan begins, you will be receive IV contrast.

However one word of advice!, the IV contrast is not the same as the one used in the MR scanner. It has a very unpleasant effect, where you will feel your body and head is getting warm from the inside, it is not painful and only last two minutes, but i got quite a nasty surprise, despite the operators had warned me.

Week 4 – No conclusions – New appointment and further examination at Hospital

  • Pain                    None
  • Mood                 6/10
  • Energy               Usual

I was waiting very impatiently for the MR results and the biopsy, but they were neither bad or good, merely inconclusive, which might be even bad in some ways as it meant more examinations and biopsies.
The MR scan did not show anything off the ordinary, but the biopsy had not enough cell-material to determine anything.

A new biopsy was made and i was given an appointment for a CT/PET scan. in order to exclude any chance of cancer or similar serious diseases.

The procedures with an infected lymph is more complex than i thought, since the examination are primarily used reversely in order to exclude other diseases, it is apparently not easy to diagnose a swollen lymph.

Week 3 – Time for MR scan

  • Pain                    None
  • Mood                 6/10
  • Energy               Usual

This was my first visit in a MR scanner, in short words,it is painless but very boring, i do not suffer from claustrophobia, but it might be a problem for those a you are confined by the scanner.

Before scanning, you will be injected with contrast fluid, it does not affect you besides you might feel a small taste of salt. Then you will be giving protective head wear and you will be moved into the center of the MR scanner.

The machine is very noisy,like hammers banging on a wall, your head wear will completely protect your ears, but it still feels like being on a construction site. And then you just need to lie completely still for 45 minutes, thats it!

Week 2 – First appointment and examinations at hospital

  • Pain None
  • Mood 6/10
  • Energy Usual

I waited a few weeks until i went to the doctor, the swelling was neither growing nor reducing and i felt no pain.

As soon as my doctor saw me, she was not able to determine what it was and send me acute to a ear nose and throat doctor. The doctor could neither determine what caused the swelling and send me acute to the Ear, Nose & Throat department at my nearest Hospital. For each stage i became more worried.

I went with my wife to the Hospital and I was examined by endoscopy, – in the next months a lot more would follow –  the doctors could not determine what caused the swelling, but they did not see any abnormalities and ruled out cancer (which they did until surgery…) -either it was probably a congenital cyst or a lump infection.

A biopsy of the fluid in the lump was taken for examination and I was prescribed antibiotics and told to return next week if nothing had changed.