I would be pleased to receive any thoughts or advice anyone can offer:

My mother, age 88, was diagnosed with Squamous cell carcinoma two years ago after having had several years of negative biopsies for white patches or leukoplakia on her tongue. She underwent a course of radiation therapy as it was the opinion of the Doctors that would be appropriate for her condition. However, the radiation did not work and she was required to undergo resection of the tongue and jaw on the right side in November of last year ('03). The pathology report was excellent and we had every reason to believe that she was on the road to recovery.

However, in the last three weeks, she began to experience pain in the tongue on the opposite side of the resection. That is, she had the surgery on right side and was now experiencing symptoms on the left side. Anotehr MRI and PET Scan revealed "worrisome" findings of "neoplastic" activity. In other words, the cancer had returned.

Today we received the bad news and she will be required to consult with a Chemotherapist with a goal of providing reduction of pain and better quality of whatever life remains for her. Needless to say, we (her three children) are shocked because we held out the hope that she would recover based on the clean pathology she received after her surgery in November.

My question is: Can anyone shed any light on how this awful disease will likely progress (even with chemo) and, what the likely timeline will be until the inevitable occurs? My mother's stated objective now is to be comfortable and to enjoy whatever time she has left. Any advice, sharing of similar experience, etc. will be deeply appreciated. Thanks!
Alan A.
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Posts: 3 | From: Southeastern Massachusetts | Registered: Apr 2004 | IP: Logged

Alan,

I wish I could provide some news or comfort for you. The only things I can come up with is that everyone's body is different and reacts differently to treatments and cancer. These definitely sound like questions for her medical team. The only other suggestion I can come up with are discussing it with a local support group, discussing it with a oncology social worker from your hospital, or check out www.chemoangels.com for research suggestions.

Good luck,
Sabrina

Alan,

I also wish I could provide some comfort for you. I am 40 years old with Lung Metastisis and I have said no more treatment for me. Does your mother want to go through chemo again? It's just 6 months since the end of treatment. My oncologist said that if the platinum based chemo was ineffective at controling the reoccurance so soon after treatment then throwing more of the same would most likely be ineffective. He offered me clinical trials. If your mom's quality of life is good right now, eating, swallowing , talking, enjoying life then I'd say go for it. If she's miserable, then I might be inclined to keep her comfortable. It's her decision though. You asked for our thoughts, I hope I didn't go too far.

Lynn