Hi Avemaria and thanks for your further post

I'm afraid I can't really add anything further to my colleague Catherine's recent reply to you.

Only your healthcare team can advise you if there is a procedure they can do if you develop swallowing) choking problems if you decide to have surgery. So do get in touch with them to ask them.

Kind regards,

Celene

Thankypu 

Sorry for replying when it's addressing the nurses but I just wanted to say that that's hard. I think you've taken the wise choice, however, as sometimes I think they put surgery ahead of oncology treatments to the detriment of quality of life. I might ask, if I were you (and had the stomach to do so), what treatment options there'd be if it is cancer that might avoid risky surgery. My partner had a radical neck dissection 2 years ago and the nerves in his neck have never been right since. If they'd realised the cancer had spread they might not have subjected him to it and given him his immunotherapy as a first line treatment instead. The rationale behind treatment precedences has changed even in the relatively short time since my partner's diagnosis. There's few treatments in medicine that don't come with some risk. I guess that's the nature of life too.

I think arming ourselves with information helps us make good decisions with our healthcare teams.

I really hope what you have is not cancer and that you handle the waiting as well as can be expected. Keep us updated.