Thank you all. This forum has definitely been a great source of support and I do hope this story helps others stay motivated. I know reading success stories on here really helped me. Now we are going to concentrate on getting her back to eating without the peg tube which I think will really be a big boost for her. Right now she's able to eat yogurt (and other foods of that consistency)

Christine B- Thanks so much. I remember you responding to my original post as well. I hope everything went okay with your latest surgery.

DavidCPA- I will definitely try to provide the specifics of her treatments and diagnosis, but will probably have to look up what exactly it was so I can add it in.


For now (for anyone reading this thread), my mom was diagnosed with SCC on BOT (10/2008). She had a partial glossectomy and a partial neck disection on the right side to remove some of the lymph nodes (11/2008).
A couple months later we noticed some swelling, turns out the SCC was in her lymph nodes (Stage IV). After another neck disection, she went through 6 weeks of radiation therapy 5 times per week (with one chemo treatment at the beginning, middle, and end).
After only a month, we noticed a pimple-like bump on her face. Biopsy revealed the SCC was still there, and now in her bloodstream. Her doctors said remission was impossible, and said we could treat it but may not be worth the side effects.
Swicthed treatment to Cancer Center of America in Philadelphia and started 3 months of Erbitux and Taxol treatments. 3 weeks of both, one week of just the Erbitux each month. PET scan shows no signs of cancer and we've opted to continue the treatments for another 2 months to be safe (since side effects have been minimal).

I will try to get more specifics around the diagnosis (ie staging)and treatments but thought this would help for now.

Kelly/Steve/HomersHoney- Thank you all for the kind words.

Good luck to everyone and Happy Holidays!