Dear Gita,

I'm sorry your sister is going through such a tough time. My husband, Scott, had a recurrence the size of a small orange under his right jaw/ear area. Docs used chemo to try to shrink it because it was too large for surgical removal. He had already had radiation to the area with the first diagnosis so that was not an option. He was on cisplatin, 5Fu, and docetaxil. When the docs saw that this strong chemo mix wasn't working to shrink the tumor (by comparing CT scans) and that it was only making him weaker and sick, they went ahead and performed a huge surgery on him.

I hope your sister's doctors are being up-front with her. You said she has been on combination cisplatin, dexoteris, 5FU; those are some hefty chemo drugs they have thrown at her. Whether she gets in at City of Hope or stays where she is, she (or you) should ask tough questions about what this all means. Our doctors did not volunteer even half of what we needed to know to take part in the decision-making process.

I wish I could be of help. I can only say that my thoughts and prayers are with you and your sister.

Christine