Hello!
I am a new member and I have never been in a forum or "Chat" room, but now is the time. My Dad was diagnosed with oral cancer in the Fall of 2002. He was told it was fully treatable and a slow moving cancer. He had radiation treatments and finished the day after Christmas. He had surgury to remove the tumor(which was in the muscle of his jaw and part of his gum and inside of his cheek. Also in one lymph node.)It was rough with a feeding tube for three weeks and he started using a therabite to stretch the muscle in his mouth so he could open his mouth and chew again. Exactly one month after the surgury he became swollen and spiked a high fever and we rushed him to Charlottesville to the University of Va. hospital (where his doctors are located and where he previously had surgery). He had a infection maybe in his salavia glands (they really don't know for sure).
Anyway with IV antibiotics he came home in one week. THen after the swelling went down he noticed a small knot in the inside of his cheek. My mom thought it was scar tissue but my Dad knew better. He went straight to his surgeon and he and his team all felt like it was another tumor and sent part of it off to the lab. In two days it came back positive(on Wed.) and by Saturday it had grown to about the size of a small egg inside of his mouth. He Saw his surgeon and was told he had to have another CT scan and surgery. He went for CT on Tues. and surgery was sched. for Fri. The surgeon said that he basically was going to remove half of my Dad's face and neck. He said it would be drastic but he wanted to out smart the cancer. He would have to have a flap surgery on his cheek and lots of skin graphs. They thought it would work but (with tears in his eyes) he told my Dad he just Didn't know for sure. The night before surgery my parents drove up and checked into the hotel( it is a four hour drive) and the surgeon came to their hotel room to tell them that the CT showed a lymph node on the other side that had the beginning signs of cancer and there was some disesed tissue underneath the spot of the first tumor. He cancelled surgery and made Dad an appt. with an oncologist (who is formally of the Mayo Clinic
). THe surgeon was not at all hopefull and we felt like the cancer had grown out of his relm of knowledge. Dad met with the oncologist the next day and he was very positive. He said he wanted to start Dad on platinum chemo. ASAP and Xeloda, which is taken by mouth. We know nothing about chemo or the Xeloda. I am trying to learn everything I can about these treatments and also this type of cancer. Can anyone help?! I would love to hear anything and some sucess stories! I know the oncologist told my Mom the
cancer was in stage 3-4 because it had just started in on lymphnode on the other side. Can anyone help? We are really scared!! He starts chemo in the morning. Please pray it works!!

Waiting and worring,
Kacy
Ps. Please excuse me for typos it is late and my typing skills need polished!