[SOUND] So my name's Andrew.
I'm gonna be bringing you back.
>> Okay.
>> We're gonna be going over the screening form first.
>> My husband, he is my hero and my happiness.
We're gonna celebrate our 17th anniversary tomorrow.
>> Anytime I'm really scared about something he's definitely
the first person I go to.
>> As a career firefighter paramedic,
you're always the one helping somebody.
Now I was on the other side of it.
I discovered the lump when I was shaving.
I would tighten my face up and shave up with the razor.
And it felt almost as if there was a little pea under my skin.
I kinda kept it to myself for about a week.
I approached my wife with it who's a nurse practitioner.
She started doing a little reading, felt it and she said
we need to get this looked at sooner rather than later.
>> But as soon as I felt it I,
there was no doubt in my mind that he had cancer.
>> Still doing okay in there?
All right.
You got about ten minutes left.
This next one's gonna be a little bit louder and
might shake the table a little bit, but
that's perfectly normal.
>> Okay. >> All right.
Doing a great job.
Just keep holding still.
>> I found Dr. Eisley just by doing a fairly comprehensive
search of the literature.
And his name kept appearing as an author of various and
sundry research articles.
There was no doubt that there was no one in Connecticut that I
felt had the experience that I was looking for, for my husband.
And you know, Maryland,
while it's a bit of a trip if by ground, it's one hour by air.
>> That Mr. Gonzalez when he came down from Connecticut
he had noticed about two months prior to his visit a mass.
And over that period of time this mass had grown and
become firmer and had become less mobile in character.
And he and his wife were very properly concerned about this.
>> Subconsciously you wanna think anything else but cancer.
>> Doctor Eisley actually uttered the word, I'm very sorry
I don't have good news for you, that was heart stopping.
>> Mister Gonzalez diagnosis ultimately proved cancer
of the poroted salivary gland.
We recommend a primary surgical approach and
that is what we call parotidectomy.
A parotidectomy is removal of part or
all of the parotid salivary gland.
>> The biggest thing in my mind was I was looking for somebody
who had experience in protecting the cranial nerves of the face.
And, and then obviously, of course,
I wanted somebody who was expert in cancer care that would be
able to get all of the tumor.
And that we would not be faced with a reoccurrence or
a spread, if it were humanely possible.
>> The parotid gland is fairly unique in that it has
a major and very important nerve,
the facial nerve coursing directly through it.
We presented his case at our weekly multidisciplinary
head-neck tumor conference.
We basically came up with a recommendation for him,
for primary surgery.
>> I was really nervous about
going through the process of surgery.
And really, when you go in for surgery, you have no control.
And that's one of the few times in my life that I've not had
any control.
>> Well at the time of Jay's surgery we were quite pleased to
be able to determine
that the tumor was well away from the facial nerve and
we were able to preserve the facial nerve in its entirety.
We were able to remove the tumor in its entirety and the final
pathology fortunately came back as a low grade carcinoma.
It's probably one of the most favorable diagnoses that could
have been rendered.
So the good news is today we reviewed the results of your MRI
that you had today, and
the pulmonary interpretation is it all looks good.
He's now over two years out from the surgery and I anticipate he
will continue to do quite well and we're extremely optimistic.
>> Today? You get to think about watching
your daughter grow up and watching her and play
basketball and all the things that's gonna happen with her.
And it's been my life with my wife and my family.
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