Thanks all you guys for your offers of help and support. We really appreciate it. Erik got through the 4 and one half hour surgery yesterday really well. I got worried at the end because I  really did not know it would take so long, but as the doctor said later it was ‘a major operation’. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. After the operation was difficult for Erik. Now they have taken off the bandages and we can see the extent of it–at least I can, Erik does not really want to look at it yet. They had to take some muscle and nerves away with the mass-but luckily he will not lose any movement in his shoulder or arm–just behind his ear is numb and will always be like that from now on because of the nerves they had to remove. The good news is it does not involve any hearing loss. It was kind of a good thing that I read a little about lymph node system before the operation because I was not so surprised by the huge mass they showed me after the operation -it really is a system of nodes and not just one. Now Erik is sleeping a lot and I read to him from the Guardian and the New York Times. He has eaten lots of ice cream and some great Taiwanese fruit that I am sure alone could cure him. Erik says hello–or would say if he was awake now.

diane