Hi everyone,

O.k this is my story. Now pay attention there is a valuable lesson to be learned here! Please at the end of this post, leave me a message and let me know what you think of my thoughts.  If you have any questions please just ask me and I will try my best to make sure their awnsered.  And, as always I can use your thoughts and prayers.  Ok, here goes:

 About six months ago I was shaving before work and thats when I felt the lump.  I realy don't  remember feeling it any earlier but I will admit if I did I paid no attention to it. Well any ways so I felt this lump but it was not yet visable.  I thought maybe it (this is gonna sound gross) was a ingrown hair or something.   It didn't feel like it was like deep in my skin or nothing.  So life went on I wasn't feeling sick or run down or anything like that.  Then about 1-1/2 or 2 months after that I could see this small bump on my jaw line but it still didn't bother me really but when I clenched my jaw it was even more visable.   At about 3-1/2 months Dusti noticed it and that was in November.   Now for those who I talk to on more of a frequent basis you will probably remember this.  In November a litte before ThanksGiving I was on vacation and everthing still was "Normal" exept I was choking when I was eating, then I noticed that I was choking even when I was drinking in fact I choked so bad I passed out.   Well needless to say Dusti panicked I got me the first Dr. Apt. she could and it was the same day. Well I guess I should explain a little more about passing out ,when I was sitting in my favorite chair holding Liliana I took a sip of my coffee mmmm It was good and just right for drinking,  not too  hot but yet not too cold but not quite warm you know that perfect temp mmmmmm! O.k where  was I   ??? Oh  yea!  So I started choking and to this day it is still foggy to me what happened.  All  I remember was handing my coffee to Dusti who was sitting next to me on the couch appearently she jump up and grabbed the baby and  passed her to one of the older children and commenced to shaking me and calling 911. This I really dont remember, but thats what her and the children said.   What I remember,  like I was saying, was handing her the coffee. It  was pretty weird, even for me so I didn't fight her on going to the DR.   I really don't go because there are a lot of sick people in  Dr.'s office's.   But that day even I was a little worried.  Well after going to our Dr.,  he said that I probably suffered from vasovagal syncope which sounded scary to me, but it can happen to everybody, especially to grooms.  Dusti told him about the lump and he recomended that we go see a dentist because it sorta felt like it was something oral because of where it is.  He also recomended just in case, to get an x-ray of my swallowing and refered me to a Gasteroenterologist.   So the x-ray came out  o.k but they thought maybe there was some narrowing of my esophagus but overall was still normal.  The Gastro  dude said maybe it was scar tissue from acid reflux and wanted to do  endoscopy which basicly means He wants to shove a tube that is about a 1/2" in dia. with a camera on the end down my throat to get a closer look.  So I had the endoscopy done and he found polyps but nothing real bothersome.  It was hard coming out of anesthesia for me.  Another part of this whole thing I dont really remember  - that day is spotty. Dusti told him about the lump and he recommended an E.N.T surgeon ear nose and throat Dr. O.k  now you all are pretty much up to speed. On my first apt. with the E.N.T he looked at my throat my ears and my nose as far as he could tell all those are normal so I, ahem, I mean Dusti told him why we came.   She said " there is a lump that is growing on my husbands face on the left side"   all that before I could even take a breath to speak!   So he felt it and Dusti and I just kinda stared at his face to see any kind of reaction but their wasnt one. He explained that this was called a Parotid tumor.  He also explaind that they were pretty common and that 80% of them are benign and Only 20% are cancerous. So we were like awsome the odds are on my side!  The doctor even said that he was sure  that it was benign. He also said the odds  were favorable because of my age and good  health. So he said that the next thing to do is to have this non cancerous tumor removed because  it is growing.  The growing part is why it has to be removed.  If your like me ( the way I heard it was )  " I wanna cut you open, dig around, and charge you lots of money to help me pay my ferrari payment for this". No but really it has to come out because there are some important facial nerves in the area of the tumor. Because its growing its possible that it can damage the facial nerves. Here is a picture of what the area looks like.  Dont worry it isn't too graphic, mostly drawings and really clean post op pics.

I'ts kinda hard to see, so I will add some links later. I am just trying to give you a little bit more of an uderstanding of why and where. The incision the doctor will make looks like     this is a post op picture unfortunatly the swelling in most cases starts about a week or so later so this is not the best picture. If you look closely you will see a little red dot that is where the drain tube was. That tube comes out 24 hours after surgery. Pretty big cut huh!  In this illistration if you look by the ear lobe that is where the lump is. Even if it wasn't cancerous this  cut would still be this big because of where it is. In the begining when we were all sure that it wasn't cancerous, the doctor only was gonna remove the front lobe of the gland but becase it is the whole gland it must be removed - see picture above. In between both lobes are where the facial nerves run.  Even if there is no damge done to these nerves, in best cases there will be some facial paralysis that may last from a few week to a few months to permanant  because the doctors will have to handel the nerves to get to both lobes.  Now if it wasnt cacerous  these nerves would not be so much of an issue. Worst case if the doctor accidently nicks the nerve or GOD forbid nerves there would be some permanant damage. Also because it is cancerous ther might have to be radiation treatment after the surgery like a week or two after. Although these nerves can be repaired the process of rehabilitation is long and paralysis could last years.  On 1/19/07 I had a pre-op consultation and Dusti and I grilled, ahem, I mean questioned the doctor with questions about the procedure. The questions that we asked where quetions that we have done our own research on. We are the type of people doctors are bothered by because in most cases we have researched the same things the doctor looks at and although we could not do the procedure, we are as far as  info goes as knowlegable on it as the doctor.  Remember when we first spoke to the ENT he said these tumors were fairly common, then by the doctors own admittance at our pre op consult he said that the tumors are not very common,  which we already knew from our research. Only 3000 occurances from around the world are reported and out of these 3000 only about 600 are cancerous. Hence the 80% benign and 20% cancerous. To me that is not very common. There are about 6,519,645,083 people on earth today. So an experienced doctor might only perform up to 4 or so of these parotidectomys a year. So in perspective its not alot even for the most experienced. So the first doctor we visted said he has only done about 20 of these in his 5yrs of being a doctor and 3 were cancerous but if we go with the stats this is not totaly true. He is a younger doctor so i feel this number is a little puffed up  I 'm sure he does'nt want to seem inexperienced, he did after much grilling said we should see more of a specalist and thats what we are gonna do monday 1/22/07.  Right now I am schedualed for surgery on 1/29/07 at 11:30am this might change after Monday. I hope it will be sooner. I hope that this story written by someone in your family will make you think about all the little bumps and lumps and little things you can't explain about your body know matter how small.  I hope it will make you think... NO will make you take the time to get seen by a professional and not to wait untill its to late. I have a wonderfull loving wife and 4 beautiful children and I do not want to leave them with out a father because I'm stubburn and don't want to hear a doctor say somethings wrong.  Nothing ever good comes out of ignoring the problem. And I dont mean just physically. There are alot of things I am gonna change about my life and one major thing is to talk to my wife alot more about what ever and everything in between. As a believer in Christ I know that I will never know when my time with my precious family will be up and I mean all of my family.Even those who I really dont talk to much. O.k so you might be wondering after all this what now? When I first thought about it I did to. But because I have a loving SAVIOUR who is GOD my question now is not "why me" or "what now" or "how come" but its "LORD, how are You gonna use this? How are You gonna use me to Glorify your Holy Name"? I  have come to the realization that I cannot change all of this nor can I handle this all on my own. Therefore I will cling to the rock of my salvation and trust in Him with all my heart and KNOW   that He is in control and not me and that He will not fail me. The bible says in Romans 28:8 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose. The bible also says in Psalms 37:40 And the LORD shall help them, and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him. And because He is the begining and the end,  the Alpha and Omega all these trials that have been placed before me have already been written, so  really all that is left  for me to do is Trust in Him and when I  feel weak He will be my strength and when I feel alone He will be there with open arms waiting for me.

JESUS LAMB OF GOD WORTY IS YOUR NAME

You are my strength when I am weak

you are the treasure that I seek 

You are my all and all

Seeking you as a precious jewel

Lord to give up I'de be a fool 

You are my all and all

JESUS Lamb of GOD worthy is your name

When I fall down you pick me up

When I'am dry you fill my cup

You are my all and all

JESUS Lamb of GOD worthy is your name

I know that after y'all read this you might have questions and its very understandable but please understand the STRESS    Dusti and I are under with having to drive to and from Charlotte which is about an hour from us.  Doctor visits, co-pays, and just knowing that I have cancer  is a remarkable amount to deal with. Please post your questions or comments on this blog by clicking the post comment line. I love you all and thanks for all you prayers and thoughts.

Please don't forget to leave me a comment below by clicking "post a  comment" and follow the instructions.  You don't have to register or anything like that.  May GOD bless you and bring peace to your hearts about all this.

                    Gilbert Soto,

 Husband to Dusti for 12yrs

and father to Sammy, Maddie, Isaiah and Liliana