My name is Liz. I have some questions about my mom.
She was diagnosed last May 2011 with a squamous cell cancer in her mouth. It was removed unbeknownst to me. My partner and I had a trip to France planned and she didn't want us to cancel it because of her. I guess it was in the back of her mouth, I'm not really even sure.
Recently they found a 'mass' in her lymph nodes on the left side of her neck so she went in and had them all removed on that side.
She came through that surgery pretty well. She's a tough lady, she has 3 dogs and was working at a dog wash in San Diego till this came up. Now she's taking it easy and healing but wants to get back to work soon.
In May 2005 she was diagnosed with bile duct cancer aka pancreatic cancer and underwent the Whipple Procedure.
All these years later she's still motoring along.
Anyway, The doctor told her they are going to do 15 weeks of radiation five days a week. Isn't that a little excessive for a cancer that was only found in one node?? She didn't even get that for her pancreatic cancer! I'm in Los Angeles so I'm a couple hours away and I spoke to one doctor by phone and his answer was to make sure they get it all. I thought they got it all by removing the nodes, biopsying them and not finding anything.
Any information or advice would be greatly appreciated as getting information from a Google search is ridiculous.
Thank you,
Liz
p.s. what's a 'spider'?

A spider is a something that searches the internet for words or phrases.

I would suggest to get your mother to a large cancer center. Normally radiation is given for 5 - 8 weeks. Ive never seen anyone do 15 weeks of rads. I have seen members go thru radiation treatments twice but not without some time between them. There are specific guidelines that your mothers doctors should be going by.

Check out these links for help...
MCI cancer centers

NCCN guidelines

Thanks Christine, she's with Kaiser so she's limited as to where she can go.

Kevin had 60 radiation tx. It was 6 weeks, but twice a day. It was very hard. Very hard. I can't imagine 75 rads. They hit him hard too, said the same thing.
Best of luck, but be prepared. The outside radiation burns are even really bad. Kevin's was the entire side of his neck from his Adam's apple to the middle of the back of his neck.
I'm not saying any of this to instill fear and I don't mean to be negative, but Kevin and I went into this with blinders on and were not prepared for the last week and the first 2-3 weeks after tx. We did finally get advice on here so realized what he was going through was normal. And remember, that was at 60 rads. Many people don't get higher than 45. 75???? Maybe they are giving some time off in between. Maybe it won't be 75. I would question that.
I may have missed this, but are they doing any chemo at the same time? At least Erbitux?
Please stay in touch with us!!
Kathy

Liz,
my husband also has Kaiser, and received excellent out of system, had a tumor board, etc. Reference the NCCN Guildlines on this site, find the appropriate one, and ask your questions again. Also, there will be a Kaiser document describing coverage and it will reference second opinion protocols. Your mom may have the document at home.

Hi there - it does seem excessive to me as with what everyone here said its usually 6-8 weeks. I would find out the details on the cancer - staging and type location and differentiation and ask the dr why so much. He likely will have a good reason, but if not get a second opinion. Also chemo should be a part of this regime as well. Good luck... And take care and your mom sounds like a strong woman.