Sabrina,

I am sure you have read and researched this site frontwards and backwards and kind of have a glimpse at most peoples situations and stories. My mom is 56 she has been battling various tongue and mouth ulcers for the past 10 years (never smoked, never drank heavily, very healthy active lifestyle) she had multiple surgeries and biopsies and they ranged from dysplacia to pre-squamous cell carcinoma until her biopsy in April 2003 came back invasive SCC. She had surgery removing 2/3 of her tongue and part of her soft palate Stage 1 and a radical neck dissection w/ no nodes positive so doctor said no radiation and chemo.

In November of 2003 the cancer reoccured on her gumline very close to where the original cancer was removed so another surgery and she had a skin graph from her leg and then 6 weeks of radiation and 2 chemo sessions. She is very fair skinned (English/German) blonde blue eyed and her skin got pretty burnt up but now just 7 weeks post radiation it has completely healed up and there is no discoloration whatsoever. She has some loose skin around the area where she had the neck dissection but that is probably due to her age. The radiation almost completely disolved the scar where she had her trach with her first surgery. She's thrilled with that! Looking at her (aside from being 5'8 and 125 pounds) she looks completely normal and can eat almost everything already. I also attribute her quick eating to her never having the PEG tube so she was forced to eat by mouth. I am sure you will heal up like a charm.

I am 34 and cannot even imagine battling this at your age. I know that if you check the profile for AzTarHeel (?).... he is about 32 and finished up with his treatment about 3 months ago and maybe send him a private message I think he's about the closest to your age that I've seen on the sight so far.

It sounds like you are in excellent hands and the doctors are doing everything they should. The side effects of the radiation will slowly go away and before long you will be back to your "New Normal". I know with my mom once she hit the three week mark for radiation it was a countdown from that point on. I truly wished that we could have fast forwared through the month of February but she made it through it and now she is about 75%.

My prayers are with you and your family and if you need anybody to talk to you can send me a private e-mail anytime. Everyday for the past year has been an emotional rollercoaster for me.....

Take Care,
Dani