我的rare granular cell cancer treatment: Why I chose MD Anderson

五月2017年，我正在准备我的第一本书的发布，准备搬进了新房子，并期待着一个10天的客场之旅，并在夏季结束我的母亲90岁生日的庆祝活动。

Instead, a tiny growth behind my ear derailed all my plans and took me to Houston, where I spent the summer undergoing手术和质子治疗at MD Anderson for an extremely rare and aggressive cancer.

我的granular cell cancer diagnosis

I’d noticed the bump behind my left ear a few months earlier. It didn’t hurt or itch. And it didn’t bleed. It was in the crevice where the ear meets the skull. Unsure if it was cartilage growth, I reached out to my internist. She thought it might be a sebaceous cyst. I could leave it or have it removed, she said.

I chose to have it removed. But I was shocked when the lab report came back indicating I had a rare granular cell cancer.

学习我的癌症的严重程度

I could find very little online about granular cell cancer, and I’ve since learned that it’s so rare only a handful of case studies have been published on it. I consulted a local oncologist, who ordered a full-body PET scan to determine if the cancer had metastasized from elsewhere in my body.

等待这些结果也许是我整个癌症的经历最可怕的。值得庆幸的是，他们指出只有我的耳朵背后的一个领域。

Why I went to MD Anderson

Due to the rarity of my cancer, I chose to leave Indiana and head toMD安德森, whose头部和颈部的专家会比较熟悉。MD安德森的extensive research, and its breadth and depth of experience, also offered me hope.

I flew to Houston on Memorial Day, just 24 hours after moving into my new home. My daughter, 24, and I stayed atMD安德森五天。我的医师团队，由世界著名头颈外科医生带领汉娜EHAB博士，建议手术切除，以确保所有的癌组织已被删除，之后质子治疗的下一个为期六周的课程G.布兰登冈恩博士MD安德森质子治疗中心。

我的肿瘤是微小的，但它正坐在面部神经。和神经通路是癌细胞的扩散高速公路，所以辐射是必须的。冈恩博士决定铅笔束质子治疗是对于敏感的领域的最佳选择。这是几毫米内精确到，只能进入肿瘤的边缘，不深，叶没有退出辐射痕迹。这是重要的，因为这将限制对周围组织的损伤。

Exceeding my expectations

我的手术花了2017年6月15日，地点和我最后的质子疗法治疗是在8月25日，2017年我一直在缓解日益以来，并已回到休斯敦每三个月做检查。唯一的缠绵ldsports乐动体育 我现在已经是硬颚，麻木的耳朵和轻微受损sense of taste。即便是hair I lost- 这给了我一个朋克般，半剃光头的样子，我喜欢 - 正在慢慢长回来。所以，事情可能会更糟。

今天，我不能讲我在MD安德森经验说话高度不够。我找到了一个世界著名的癌症中心和超出了我的预期的地方仍然有伤口了。从主刀的代客泊车员 - - 每个部门配合下，和每一位员工的工作无缝地集中在我的身体和精神福祉。这设置了酒吧高得不得了了所有其他的癌症中心在那里。

‘The right place to be’

由于我在休斯敦的时候，我曾与几个病人谁使他们的方式到前接受失败自家附近治疗口语MD安德森。他们都后悔没有第一个去那里。

我也陪着家人与癌症to local appointments and have been very disappointed in the quality of care they’ve received: physicians who weren’t interested in explaining their particular disease or its treatment, clinic staff who were emotionally cold and only served to increase a patient’s fear, specialists who practiced in different locations and didn’t communicate with one another, and procedures scattered across the city in different facilities.

我夏天可能没有原来我原先计划，但最终，我不能一直在一个更好的地方。它可以是压倒性的，并排出由这么多的癌症包围，而是因为我去MD安德森，我仍然有庆祝我母亲90^日birthday. We celebrated her life — and with the help of MD Anderson, mine.

请求在MD安德森网上预约or by calling 1-877-632-6789。