This handbook applies to cancer and cancer treatments in general, with a section on head and neck cancers. You're invited to take this content to heart and be clear that what you're about to read is solely the perspective of one human being and his gained knowledge. As in science, we do our best to live in the inquiry, not the findings, as they frequently change.

Head and neck cancer includes areas from the brain to the bottom of the neck, i.e., the mouth, throat, voice box, nasal cavity, sinuses, salivary, and lymph glands. Common symptoms are either visual swelling and lumps or internal occurrences that are sometimes initially undetectable. Early detection can make it easier to alleviate metastasis as well as a death sentence.

The risk of getting head and neck cancer increases because of alcohol consumption, tobacco use, breathing in toxic fumes, and chronic infections. To date, the medical treatment still typically involves either surgery, radiation, and/or chemotherapy. According to the American Medical Association, head and neck cancer is highly curable if treated early, although life expectancy and quality of life depend on certain conditions that are explained in this handbook. You will also understand why most cancers are curable and preventable.

Cancer therapies, notably radiation therapy, wreak havoc on the human body, no matter what cancer type is being treated. The reason for the focus on head and neck cancer is primarily because it remains most life-challenging after treatment is complete. The reason is that radiation fibrosis continues to infiltrate living cells, and modern medicine has yet to find a way to stop it. The migration of radioactive tissue continues to create more fibrotic tissue, creating various health challenges.

There is still so much more that we don’t even know that we don't know, as well as already know that we don't know, and yet many of us live our lives thinking that we know. How foolish is that? When this is applied to practicing medical science on human beings, it must underscore that acts of kindness and a commitment to do little harm remain the focus. Radiation protocols of the future must either continue to be reduced in intensity or wholly excluded as a treatment option. Patients who live past the radiation life expectancy of head and neck cancer (estimated at 0 - 8 years, having been administered 3000 - 7000 rads of radiation, depending on the intensity of the protocol) are not usually followed up on by oncologists after eight years and are left to fend for themselves.

The handbook is for anyone who has or has had cancer and friends or family who are dealing with this life-threatening health challenge.