Posted By: CMMoore Metastasis to other areas... - 11-02-2010 03:07 PM
I am just wondering if anyone has had experience with mets to bone from oral cancer.

We've already dealt with mets to both lungs and next on the treatment list is a spot on the pelvis.
Doc said it is bigger than a nickel, but didn't tell my husband how big it is. Our next visit with doc isn't for two weeks, and I of course have a ton of unanswered questions.

Any issues I might need to ask doc about specifically?

Thanks,
Christine
Posted By: Coping in Texas Re: Metastasis to other areas... - 11-02-2010 05:24 PM
Christine - yes, Jim's cancer metastized to his bone 2 years ago - it is in his spine, shoulder blades, hip and now his lungs and trachea. The only good thing that I can tell you is that they can radiate the bone areas and kill the tumor that is invading the site...but only once; the bone is weakened from the radiation so if they don't get it then they cannot re-radiate the area (at least that's Jim's case). He did have a partial hip replacement last Feb. as the bone had been radiated and it came back so they replaced the damaged area with a partial hip. Issues - bone pain is incredibly painful, Jim has an extremely high tolerance for pain, so we're lucky in the pain dept. I guess if you can call call anything lucky about this dreaded diseas.

Hope this helps.
Paula
Posted By: CMMoore Re: Metastasis to other areas... - 11-02-2010 06:28 PM
Thank you Paula, that offers me some hope.
I haven't been able to find much about bone mets. online, and what I could find was grim. I was very scared. I understand exactly what you mean about being lucky withing such circumstances.
We have to take what small victories we can.
I finally got him an appointment with his oncologist for Thursday morning to discuss the bone growth.

Thanks again
Christine
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