Thanks to the four of you for sending us good wishes, I am so glad mums story has cheered you up!

Whilst we are aware that cancer can return at any time, I have to say mum really is looking well at the moment. Thank goodness! and I am thankful for every good day!

Maybe it's because she is on the Bristol diet a very healthy diet, but her skin is nice and fresh looking, she is a nice slim shape and her eyes are bright!

We have gone out on some shopping trips to buy some new clothes for her, so she can feel good about herself (as she still has slight scarring to the face and her hair is a little thin on one side, due to the op) and I treated her to a hair cut last week to keep her feeling good and up beat.

I cannot emphasize enough, how in february this year I was nursing a woman who I really feared I might loose, it really was the most awful time (I used to get nightmares, waking up in a sweat, regarding the seriousness of the op my mum had to endure! I cried my heart out some nights when i got home from the hospital, I was inconsoleable, my hubby just hugged me and could say nothing to console me and then I went back in the next morning being strong once again, telling her to keep going, not give up, stay strong, all you carers know how heart breaking it is to see a loved one suffer and how draining it is being supportive! The days were extreemely dark and the shock of it came all at once! One minute life was just fine, the next, BANG this!! )

I am so lucky to have her with us now and at the moment she is so well and I just want everyone to know that you too could survive this horrible disease or at the very least have some more quality time to live!!

You have read the awful things my mother had to endure and although life is a bit different these days, there is still quality of life and fun after it all, so please dont go through this alone, mum even goes to restuarants now and can eat in public, which we just never thought we would do again!

If you click on the name Janet09 on this link, you can see a photo of us both and you can see mums scar under her nose. It looks even better now as this photo was about a month or so after the op, just after the swelling and all the nasty bits had healed, her head is still quite swollen in this pic, but she looks much thinner now. I will try and put a more recent one on soon, for you to look at.

I am only too pleased to talk to you, lend you support, send you e mails, even mum said she would 'hand write' a letter to anyone who would like support and is going through something similar (she isnt very good on computers and I write e mails for her, but she often says if I hear of anyone who has upper jaw cancer and needs to hear from her, I must give her their address, so she can write to them personally and offer them support as we both know how very important that is)

Again we send positive thoughts to everyone on this sight, try everything to get yourself well, listen to the doctors advise, be kind to yourself and we send all our best wishes from over the pond to you all xxx

Su (and her mum Janet) Bristol, south west of England, UK