I have been on the board for years, mostly lurking, but have found great comfort even in that.
My husband was diagnosed in March/2003. He had stage4 scc/r/tonsil, he was treated at SKCC in NYC with mrt radiation and cystplastin, no surgery necessary at the time.
Unfortunately he has had a sore in his mouth, which was just found to be cancerous and has just had surgery to remove it and a graft. So far they say they got it all, and dont think he needs chemo.
One of the Dr's "fellows" told my husband that once it comes back, it usually comes back at least once more.
I am wondering what anyone here thinks about no chemo, and the fellows remark? Is it true, that if a person suffers a setback like this, that it happens at least once more?
thanks
therese

Joansie, Did he have his recurrence treated at Sloan as well? If so, I'm sure they know what they are doing there better than what anyone here knows. And the thing is it's my understanding that chemo, by itself (not in combo. with radiation), isn't all that effective for oral cancer. It might slow down the progress a little but if there are cancer cells in there waiting to come back, I don't know how effective it is.

Still, I think if I were in your husband's shoes, I'd want to be really really aggressive, since it's a recurrence, and try chemo, even if there's only a small chance it would improve the chances of the cancer not coming back. But I'm not a doctor and I don't know if there IS a small chance. I think this is somehting where he should talk more with his doctors and he should make it clear how aggressive he wants to be.

Nelie

Therese,

I had cancer come back after having only surgery on tongue. I then had to be more aggressive and had to have Chemo with Radiation.

There have been some here that have done fine with just surgery. Others had just Radiation. You must remember that once you have been radiated in one place you can not be radiated there again. Chemo is used also to help it from spreading to other parts of the body.

Make sure you talk to your Dr. about your concerns for treatment. You need to feel completely comfortable about the treatments that will be used.

Hope this along with what Nelie said is helpful.

Take Care,
Diane

In many years of working with fellows, both in oncology and infectious diseases, I would get my advice ONLY from the attending physician. Repeat the story to him/her and then ask questions. There are great differences in the experience of fellows in their field. First year fellow in July? The person you talked to could be completely new to the field and scaring you unnecessarily. They are in training for a reason.

But this raises another question for the group as a whole: Are there organized data on recurrences and/or metasteses on this website or on the NCI/NIDR website?

Best wishes

Bonnie Glen