my dad started this process last Octobers when he had what we thought was a candor sore. The small dot on his cheek was removed and turned out to be malignant. Within two weeks after removal a lymph node became swollen. By the time it was biopsies it was four times bigger. Was also malignant. During surgery tumor was broken/ruptured and a second lymph ode was cancerous. He also had a post operative infection that required a second surgical procedure and delayed radiation/chemo treatment. Now he is 32days post radiation and feels there has been no improvement. Can't eat, has feeding tube, and has constant mouth pain , sore throat and extreme weakness he is understandably depressed. Doctors throughout this process have been really useless, we seem to get a lot of contradictory info, or doc changes story with every visit.

Hi Robin - welcome to the family. I understand your worry about your father. However being just 32 days post radiation treatment he is still in the window for having significant side effects. Many people don't start noticeably improving until later than your father is right now. So, what I am telling you (and him) is to keep the faith.

How good a treatment facility did your father go too for radiation. I dont want to put down the facility or doctor, it's just that some are way better than others. We always try to get our members to use a comprehensive cancer center (CCC) if at all possible as those people are the best in the country at what they do.

You can always go for a 2nd opinion from another doctor. It may not be necessary for your father but it almost always makes the patient feel better, especially if they were worried in the first place.

Tell us a little more about your dad, his age, smoker or non-smoker, previous history of cancer; things like that. We aren't looking for personal information, just general so we will have an idea where he fits into our picture.

Good luck with all this Robin, we are here to help you both get through this.

Tony

Tony,
My Dad went to the Moore Cancer Center in La Jolla, Ca.
He has never had cancer before. His mother had cancer in her late 80s (she survived and live to 92).
He doesn't smoke. but has crohns and for a couple of years prior to this diagnosis has been on immune suppressing drugs.

Thanks for your input

Robin

Robin, I wrote on your other thread. How many calories is your father taking in daily? This has a direct connection on his recovery.

The few weeks following the end of radiation are typically the worst for everyone and his recocery, when it starts, will be very slow with some taking every bit of 2 years to get to their new normal. Keep his docs informedand be patient.