Dear friends

Sorry I have not had chance to post on the board for a while regarding my Mum.

Unfortunately following her second operation to remove an infected metal plate in her chin and to insert another one, my Mum has been in a lot of pain. At night she cannot sleep because the pain in her jaw is so bad.

Today we saw her consultant at the hospital (1month check up). He tells us that the pain she is having could be due to shortening of muscles in her mouth following the operation, which would explain why she cannot open her mouth very wide anymore. He also said she has got a condition called Sub Mucus Fibrosis inside her cheeks. He has prescribed her some tablets, which she needs to take one at night. He said hopefully these will help, but it will take about 4 weeks for them to take effect.

Anyway, my question is not regarding the above but of a different matter which is that the consultant told us that a chest xray which was taken in January just prior to my Mum's major oral surgery shows abnormality.

I am going out of my mind with worry as to what this could be? My Mum does not drink, does not smoke, she doesn't have a cough or breathing problems - touchwood so what could this abnormality be?

The hospital are going to send an appointment for a CT Scan soon. Could it be cancer?

Could it have travelled to her lungs? What else would show up as an abnormality on an Xray apart from Cancer?

Could it have spread from my Mum's original tongue cancer?

Mum had nearly all of her tongue removed and re-built in January 2003 and all her lymph nodes were removed. At the time she didn't have to have radiotherapy or chemotherapy.

Please help, my thoughts are running away with me.

God Bless

Kathleen

Hi Kathleen,

Try not to let those thoughts get out of hand. (I know that is hard)

The xray could possibly be anything. They are going to look with more sensitive equipment to see what is or is not there. At this moment you could worry yourself that it is cancer, or you could rejoice that it is some harmless scar tissue. Right now you don't know, we don't know and your Dr. doesn't know. So you should neither worry nor rejoice, waiting is all you can do. I don't have any better suggestion to help get you and your family through this than HUGS.

I do know that worring about the unknown accomplishes absolutely NOTHING. Perhaps others here can offer other suggestions.

Take care, God bless, and find peace.

I certainly would ask the doctor for a least a better explanation of what he HAS told you. That there is an abnormality in the lung (s) could have told you so much more, if he had elaborated, and I think that it is worth the time to ask him directly for further explanation. How big is the abnormality? Is it diffused or with defined boarders? etc. These answers will tell you some things. A cyst for instance MAY present in a radiograph as something very hard edged (defined boarders) a cancer MAY appear more diffused. These are not absolutes, but it would not be out of line to ask him for an opinion on what this may be. Surely he could be more forthcoming. You asked if it could be cancer, I am surprised that he did not address this question. The answer is yes, but it could also be something BENIGN such as a cyst. The lungs and the aerodigestive tract in general are the primary locations for an oral cancer metastasis. There must be some baseline radiographs or scans from her previous surgery. How does the current scan differ from those? With a rather extensive primary cancer, your mother had a surgical only treatment protocol, here in the US; it is likely that her surgery would have been followed by radiation. You might ask the doctors about her original treatments, and IF there is a spread of the cancer, what treatment options there are available for her.

It is the responsibility of medical professionals to provide us with enough information for us to completely understand the situation; how else can we make informed decisions? It appears this wasn

Hi Kathleen,
Sorry to hear about your mother. I just got off the phone with the doctor who did my mother's surgery in Feb./2003. She too has a suspicious looking spot on her right lung. My mother had told the doctor that she was experiencing pain in her jaw and head. As a precaution he sent her for a PET scan. It showed something in her chest and subsequently he sent her for a CT scan. This confirmed his suspicion. There is a 2 inch spot on her lung and although he is not sure, he is suspicious it is malignant. He said it could be some kind of abcess or infection. Now he is going to schedule her for a fine needle biopsy of the suspcious area with a chest surgeon and he said he thinks that regardless of whether or not it is malignant surgery will probably be recommended. He told her that the biopsy itself is a very uncomfortable procedure to have done. I can only imagine what chest recovery from chest surgery will be like for an 80 year old woman who has been through what she has been in the last 2 years. It was just about 2 years ago that she had a neck resection to start the whole odyssey She was doing pretty well considering all the problems with eating after 1/2 her tongue, right jaw and floor of mouth were removed over a year ago, but this is a big setback for her. I saw her today and although she is giving it her best effort, she is pretty discouraged. I don't mean to discourage you, but thought you might take some comfort in knowing there are others in the same predicament. Let's hope there is a happy outcome for both our mothers, but with each new twist in the road it gets more and more difficult to stay optimistic. Wishing you, your mother and your family the very best.

Vince

Dear Vince

Thanks for your post. I am really sorry to hear about your mother too. I will remember you and your dear mother in my prayers.

I agree with you when you say it is difficult to stay optimistic. I feel more worried than my mum does at the moment. She is in denial and says she can't have cancer in her chest because she feels fine. She has no such symptoms but what if it is and it doesn't show any symptoms. Did your Mum have any complaints?

I pray the fine needle biopsy your mum is going have is not too uncomfortable and that after all this there is good news for you.

I feel so worried about my Mum as well but right now I am taking each day as it comes. My mum has been scheduled to have her CT Scan on Friday, 13th June 2003 (what a day to have it!) Anyway, until then we have to contend with all the waiting.

My Mum too struggles with eating. She can't really manage any solids. The majority of the food she eats has to go in the liquidiser. I tell her it will get better, but I don't really know if it will. I do hope so because she feels very sad not being able to enjoy all her favourite foods. The texture of liquidised food has become very boring and unappetising.

Let's pray for both of our Mums.

Please do keep me posted on how your Mum is doing and I will let you know how mine gets on after the CT Scan.

Take Care

All the best

Love

Kathleen.

Hi

I just forgot to add that the pain in Mum's jaw, thank goodness has got better since she was prescribed those tablets I mentioned in my very first post at the top of this thread.

We discovered that the tablets are anti depressants, which also help to relax the muscles in her jaw which in turn combats the pain. The tablets also help her to sleep at night because they have the side effect of making her drowsy.

Kathleen.