I'm Back, This Time To Stay Hopefully!

I've never been one of the more prolific posters during my time as a member of this community, but I haven't been around much during the last year (except for the occasional lurking session). Reason being is that I've had my share of medical issues that have essentially sidelined me from my hobbies for a while.

Last year, I began having pain in the back of my throat, near my tonsils. I also was noticing that I would get fatigued much more easily than usual, especially in hot weather. I was feeling fine otherwise and was just chalking it up to getting older (I am 46 years old). But, last summer, I found a swollen spot under my jaw on the left side and went to see the doctor about it. Seemed to be an infection of some kind at first but antibiotics didn't do anything for it. Finally, a couple of biopsies and a few sessions with an EN&T doctor, the diagnosis came back as cancer. Specifically, squamous cell carcinoma, which is essentially skin cancer but located in the back of my throat. The necrotic cells were getting into my lymph system which accounts for the swollen lymph node under my jaw.

You could have knocked me over with a feather when I heard. I've never smoked at all and I drink only rarely, which are the main risk factors for this type of cancer. Those first couple of days after the initial diagnosis were horribly scary as I did not know right away how far it had spread. Luckily, it turned out to be localized. I went through a regimen of radiotherapy and chemotherapy during October and November of 2015 and then spent another couple of months feeling pretty awful. I had to take my Thanksgiving dinner through a feeding tube as I was incapable of swallowing anything other than water due to the radiation to my neck.

Thankfully, with much support from my wife, I was able to get through it all. Even after the treatment, I was still feeling pretty rotten, with the worst of it being between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Even as late as January and February I was feeling pretty lousy although improving too at least where I felt at least decent. My system finally recovered from the chemo drugs enough to where I didn't need the feeding tube or infusions anymore and I was able to get the tube and infusion port removed in early March and I've since continued to recover slowly. I feel almost back to normal now although I am still having issues with my salivary glands and sense of taste - both of which are improving slowly over time. I am still not 100% back but am getting there slowly. I've been in for follow-up PET scans and I am now in remission with no signs of the cancer in my body. I'll continue to go in for scans at least once a year, probably for the rest of my life, but so far things are looking good.

Needless to say, coins (and pretty much all my other hobbies) took a back seat during all this, but now I'm back to getting caught up on my silver proofs and working on my 7070. Getting reoriented to coins has caused me to realize that a few questions have come up, mainly in regards to Dansco album updates and various Mint issues, which I will be asking over the next few days.

It's not been a fun experience but I'm glad it's behind me. At least I was able to shed about 40 pounds of unwanted weight. I appreciate many things much more now, that's for sure.

Anyway, glad to be back!