Source: southfloridahospitalnews.com
\nAuthor: staff<\/p>\n
Tamarac resident Kenneth Goff was home shaving morning when he felt a small lump on the left side of his neck.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was no pain, no nothing, but I could feel it by the way the razor moved,\u201d said the 58-year-old father of five and grandfather of eight. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t visible at all, but I could feel it right below the jaw line.\u201d<\/p>\n
After a CT scan at Broward Health Medical Center in August 2020, Goff was diagnosed with HPV-mediated squamous cell carcinoma, a type of throat cancer. This cancer is similar to what actors Michael Douglas and Stanley Tucci have battled. The treatment of HPV-related oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma may include surgery, radiation, chemotherapy or combination of the treatments.<\/p>\n
Ryan H. Sobel, M.D., a head and neck surgical oncologist at Broward Health Medical Center, prescribed radiation to treat Goff\u2019s isolated neck mass. Prior to radiation treatment, Dr. Sobel performed a submandibular, or saliva gland transfer, an intricate surgery only a handful surgeons across the country are skilled at performing. He is currently the only surgeon utilizing this technique in Broward and Palm Beach counties.<\/p>\n
Dr. Sobel strategically relocated one of Goff\u2019s saliva glands. It was moved about three inches from the right side of his throat to under the chin to place it out of direct range of the damaging effects of radiation.<\/p>\n
Patients diagnosed with throat cancer face a difficult choice: treat the cancer with radiation and risk losing their ability to swallow and taste, or don\u2019t treat the cancer and risk terminal illness.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy safely moving saliva glands away from direct radiation, we are able to help mitigate long-term risks such as the ability to taste and swallow and significantly preserve a patient\u2019s quality of life,\u201d said Dr. Sobel.<\/p>\n
For Goff, his radiation treatments began with Evan Landau, M.D., a radiation oncologist at Broward Health. \u201cHe prepared me very well and told me in advance what to expect so I could prepare myself mentally and physically,\u201d Goff said. \u201cHe said my taste buds would change during radiation and advised me to gain 20 pounds before starting treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n
The radiation treatment temporarily affected Goff\u2019s saliva gland. He lost his sense of taste and suffered from severe dry mouth. He\u2019s now 90% back to normal thanks to Dr. Sobel\u2019s revolutionary procedure.<\/p>\n
Goff was able to continue working as probation officer during his treatments. \u201cEveryone thought I was crazy coming to work during radiation,\u201d he said. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to sit home. We have a great crew of people I work with who are very helpful and very supportive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Goff\u2019s last treatment was December 2020, and now that his taste buds are fully back to normal, he\u2019s happy to be cooking up his signature dish for his family. \u201cMy specialty is pork and beans and hotdogs,\u201d he said. \u201cWe barbeque a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grateful to the physicians at Broward Health Medical Center for treating his cancer in its early stages, Goff now advocates for being proactive about taking care of one\u2019s health.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to take care of our bodies and pay attention to it,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m that kind of guy that when something doesn\u2019t feel right, I run to the doctor,\u201d Goff said. \u201cSome people, when they feel a little lump, don\u2019t do anything. When our bodies our trying to tell us something, we need to listen.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Source: southfloridahospitalnews.com Author: staff Tamarac resident Kenneth Goff was home shaving morning when he felt a small lump on the left side of his neck. \u201cThere was no pain, no nothing, but I could feel it by the way the razor moved,\u201d said the 58-year-old father of five and grandfather of eight. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t visible at all, but I could feel it right below the jaw line.\u201d After a CT scan at Broward Health Medical Center in August 2020, Goff was diagnosed with HPV-mediated squamous cell carcinoma, a type of throat cancer. This cancer is similar to what actors Michael Douglas and Stanley Tucci have battled. The treatment of HPV-related oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma may include surgery, radiation, chemotherapy or combination of the treatments. Ryan H. Sobel, M.D., a head and neck surgical oncologist at Broward Health Medical Center, prescribed radiation to treat Goff\u2019s isolated neck mass. Prior to radiation treatment, Dr. Sobel performed a submandibular, or saliva gland transfer, an intricate surgery only a handful surgeons across the country are skilled at performing. He is currently the only surgeon utilizing this technique in Broward and Palm Beach counties. Dr. Sobel strategically relocated one of Goff\u2019s saliva glands. It was moved about three inches from the right side of his throat to under the chin to place it out of direct range of the damaging effects of radiation. Patients diagnosed with throat cancer face a difficult choice: treat the cancer with radiation and risk losing their ability to swallow and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[383,80,210,6219,3878,1158],"class_list":["post-21169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-oral_cancer_news","tag-dry-mouth","tag-hpv","tag-radiation","tag-saliva-gland-transfer","tag-swallow","tag-taste"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oralcancernews.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oralcancernews.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oralcancernews.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oralcancernews.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oralcancernews.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21169"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/oralcancernews.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21170,"href":"https:\/\/oralcancernews.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21169\/revisions\/21170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oralcancernews.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oralcancernews.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oralcancernews.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}