Hi Stephany,
I can't answer if it's recurrent cancer or not, I'm not knowledgable enough about it all. I just remember Brian stating that he felt many recurances were NOT a new cancer but left over cancer that radiation didn't take care of. My doctor told me that even though they had large, clean margins from the surgery they were still going to do radiation to "mop and clean" up any microscopic cancer cells that might have been missed. His explanation made sense to me. When I had a CAT scan after diagnosis to check for the spread of the cancer to my lungs, etc. my scans showed nothing. Yet, the removal of the lymphnodes showed one lymphode lying against the tumor had microscopic cancer in it.
My heart breaks to hear you say that your mom cries every day, I can only imagine what she is going through and what you are going through. I can FEEL my kids watching me sometimes, not as often as a few months ago, but it still happens. And I KNOW they are having a fearful moment, wondering what they will do if my cancer comes back. We patients have the easy job in my opinion. Give your mom time to come to grips with this new diagnosis and I bet she will find a strength to fight this. I can tell you this, in her shoes I would have the surgery to remove the rest of my jaw. I know it sounds scary but it could very well save her life. She still has radiation to fight this with also, I would make sure she has all the information and knowledge then ask her about the surgery again. Just my suggestion, I don't want to over step my boundries here with advice, I'm new at this!
I would love to have you talk to my oldest daughter. How old are you?
Take care,
Minnie