Thank you so much David for your prompt reply....
Okay let me add some more details to it. Last year in march he was diagnosed with stage 2 Squamous Cell cancer but it was localized ...they did the surgery and put in a flap ... he was doing fine initially after the surgery.I personally feel that the doctors did not monitor him properly but that's my personal opinion..his surgery was done in april an but june he was feeling better.. even eating food soft/ liquid diet. in sept when he went back to see the doc they did biopsy again and it came positive for recurrence .... then they did 35 RTs and 6 Cetaxomab treatment ... he was in avery bad shape... it took good one and ahalf month to get better and all the skin conditions were fine ... saliva was dried up initially but was fine later.
he was done with radiation on nov26th to be precise ... and now its march 6th.. in start of jan they did a CT scan and it came out clear .... but end of jan he started having constant pain in his head and cheeks/ chin area... it would go up to 4/10 scale .... so when the doc checked him First they said the cancer is back .. then afetr 2 weeks they said its not back but part of his tongue (quarter size)is dead as in dead .. this part is some what to the side of the tongue near the middle part.
now they have never seen anything like this ... and let em add soemthing else to this ... this si all speculations based on visual observation bo test have been done by the doc s .. when we asked them to do the MRI they said that will be inconclusive ...so ...
we asked them what is the solution to this .. they are saying they don't want to cut that part because they don't want tp put him to sleep.....???? he is other wise in good shape interms of other body organs ... My father inlaw has beena very active man all his life .. and he is not a smoker .. he never touched alcohal in his life ..he has not used any kind of drugs whats so ever .....
and before all this radiation started they ahd put in peg tube as well.. ( its is still here ) since he cannot even drink water....
the only thing they have done is to give him hydromorphone ... and codene...( this is a good team of doctors ) its not that I don't trust them but I and my husband both wat to have some answers.. like what do they paln .. they don't say any thing .. their answer si the pain is due to the dead part of the tongue .. which will eventually fall off Yes thats exactly what they said .. and I need to know if there is any one out there who has seen or heard about such a side effect of radiation?
the second question is ... what are the side effects of hydomorphone .... he is having short term memory loss....and that upsetting for him n us ...
He lives with us .. I am from the part of world where we take care of our parents.. its very hard to see him in pain... we feel so helpless .. I am not tired believe me .. he has been such a loving father in law .. he the type of a person whom you want to run and help for he is such an independent person never .. never complaining of anything ... so easy to take care of... and I have been so blessed that mY kids are learning so much about life ... and have the love of there grand father.
I can't take away his pain but I am getting desperate to have some answers... or may be just to hear that we are not alone ....
Thank you so much...