Different Deal

And a better one. So here's the reason why you go the best hospital in town: they come up with better treatment.

Based on the same facts, the new doctor on the scene - his name is Bruce Haughey - has a different, and much less burdensome, treatment. The old plan was to (a) remove the cancerous nodes and surrounding tissue from the neck (b) do some "random biopsies" to try to find the primary cancer, and (c) follow up with radiation and, maybe, chemotherapy. The new guy will stick with (a), has a different approach to (b), and thereby will probably eliminate the need for (c).

Dr. Haughey is a self-confident New Zealander and the Director of Head and Neck Surgical Oncology at Barnes*. He said that what I have is quite common, and they have developed a process for it that has been very successful. His approach is to use a microscope to look for the primary cancer during the surgery and if he finds it, which he usually does, excise it with a laser. It is usually identified during that process and a followup biopsy of the removed tissue. Then, no need for radiation or chemo. Mrs. Strays asked the logical question why we hadn't heard about this procedure before. He said probably because he hadn't published it yet.

Well, yahoo. The surgery never bothered me. In fact I can't wait - it is strange to wake up every morning knowing you have cancer in your neck, and I'd like to get past it. But I was not looking forward to radiation, which was certain, or chemo, which was possible.

Dr. Haughey gave me the standard disclaimers, and can't guarantee no radiation. But it is a very different future. With this, I may well be back up and getting on with the rest of my life by mid-June. Yippee kai-yay.



* The name of the place is kind of a mess. So far I have about six: Barnes, Barnes-Jewish, BJC, Washington University School of Medicine, Center for Advanced Medicine, Siteman Cancer Center. I know there are some real distinctions between the hospital and the university; but the rest, I guess, is a mash of history and marketing.