I had my surgery Dec. 4th, everything went well. Didn't have to remove my jowbone, only 2 teeth. Found no cancer in my limpnodes or anywhere else. Had to go back and have second sugery on Jan.3rd to correct where a bone and plate were shoing thru, removed another tooth. That went well. I am healing very well and doing just fine(prase the Lord). The Dr. wants me to have 6 weeks of radiation, I go Monday for the oreientation. Right now I am cancer free, the Dr. said he got it all, wants to do radiation to make sure.
Now my question is who out there has had radiation to the mouth. I have herd sum horrific stories and don't want to go thru with it. I am very scared, I am ding so well and hate to have more pain and suffering. I do know they can't force you do have radiation. Someone please leave me feedback, good or bad.

Roger,
First I want to congratulate you on your great news.I don't know enough about your situation to make a qualified awnser of whether to have radiation or not. But radiation is the best treatment for H&N cancers. I would take the stance that your dr's would need to talk you out of radiation and why they felt you don't need it. Rather than them trying to convince you to have it. Whatevere choice you make keep us up to speed.
Always'
Mark D.

Roger --

Glad to hear the surgery went well; I have been thinking about you over the last month.

The decision to have radiation is yours, of course -- but centers like IU take a team approach (involving specialists in surgery, chemotherapy and radiation) and come up with what they believe is the best treatment plan for each case. The IU doctors have seen hundreds, if not thousands, of oral cancers, and I am sure they are not making this recommendation lightly.

Many of the folks who post here have been through radiation treatment, and I am sure they will weigh in with their experiences.

All the best --

Leslie

Roger,

I'm glad your surgery went well and that you're healing nicely at this point. As far as radiation goes, I'd suggest that you listen to your head and neck team. I also was in the position of having great surgical results and really not wanting to have radiation. However, my team thought it was the safest approach in light of my pathology report. Radiation was certainly tough to deal with, but as time has passed, I've never had any reason to regret having it (and that was almost 18 years ago).

Cathy

Hi Roger,

"Adams" was my maiden name!

Let me be really blunt here. If your doctor says radiation, then get the radiation. This is what he does for a living so allow him to do his job, which is saving your life and allowing you to live for many more years. I had radiation, as did the majority of posters on here. We all lived through it, we all suffered but are now living productive and happy lives...............living being the key word here. That is the ultimate goal, to stay alive.

Good luck with you decision.
Minnie

One small suggestion -- you might want to move your question to a new post on the "Medications, Treatments, Procedures" thread, since you're well past the introduction stage here!

All the best,
Leslie

Rodger,

Tough decision but as everyone has advised...listen to your docs on this one. This is a very agressive cancer and believe me they can't guarentee to you that they got it all with the surgery. Otherwise they wouldn't recommend you go through Rad Tx. They will probably also suggest some chemo.

Let us know what you decide.

My Dr. says there may be microscopic cancer that scans won't show, and that is why he recommends radiation. Could someone who has been thru 6 weeks or more rad. tell me what to expect as each day passes and how sick they got. I know there is not much of a choice, but as least I will know what I'm in for. Has there been someone who chose not to get radiation and did or did not regret it? I have also read that they want you to start rad. within 100days after sugery, is this also true?

Roger

Follow this link to a post called "introducing myself" dated 06-01-07. In there you'll find a reply from davidcpa that's pretty good. Or you can do your own search.

http://www.oralcancerfoundation.org/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/ubb/get_topic/f/2/t/000842.html

Hope the link worked.

Rodger;
I can tell you exactly what I would do if I were you because 5 months out from surgery I learned it needed to happen anyway. I would hit it with everything you can all at once. This is a sneaky, tricky, fast moving disease that is out to get you, so do everything within your power to get it first.

My first ENT felt very strongly about saving the rad/chemo stating they cause "many quality of life issues", etc. Quality is good but has no meaning whatsoever if there is no life! Even a second opinion told me I was in good hands, but should entertain follow up TX. I know he was aggressive the first time around and felt very confident that he did very well by me (as did I), but there were lots of other areas that finally lit up on a scan in July, including another tumor (none which showed up in an exploratory biopsy). What might have happened had the follow up with rad/chemo been immediate? Who really knows, but I feel I should have played that card then and found out.

By the way, read the link that Tim posted above. David sums it up very well. Just remember, everyone walks the path but at a different pace and varying degrees. Just remember there is light at the end of the tunnel. Success is measured "one swallow at a time."

Best wishes,

Steve