 Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts)
Joined: Nov 2002 Posts: 3,552 | Annabel,
I agree with Erik. I don't think they have any choice but to open her up and find the cause. Fistulas are never a good thing. It is never a normal condition to have a fistula in the body and it is symptomatic of something. It doesn't sound like a recurrence however, but it is a pathway for infection and other potential adverse effects. I am sure that the surgery would be far less severe than the original surgery in any case.
Closing it up without finding the source was a waste of time. Of course it's going to come back. It's like trying to stop a volcano. I am not even a doctor!
Do you have confidence in her doctors? She's been suffering for an unusually long time - they need to get on it.
Gary Allsebrook
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Dx 11/22/02, SCC, 6 x 3 cm Polypoid tumor, rt tonsil, Stage III/IVA, T3N0M0 G1/2
Tx 1/28/03 - 3/19/03, Cisplatin ct x2, IMRT, bilateral, with boost, x35(69.96Gy)
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"You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes" (James 4:14 NIV)
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