Jbentonwolfe: Welcome to our site. It is now yours as well. My cancer was not exactly the same as your mother's, but it sounds similar. Mine was primary in tonsil, but needle biopsy was the first attempt (2x) to establish cancer for sure. After a bunch of other things, such as scans, sonidirected needles, etc., I ended up with a peg, chemo and radiation treatment and eventually surgery to be sure a recurrance in the same place would never occur because all of the tonsils and lymph nodes near the secondary tumor weren't there anymore. This sounds similar to what your mom has in front of her.

As noted, we all react differently so she could skim through this with little difficulty or she could have a more difficult time. It just depends on how she reacts. I pray she has an easy time of it and little ill effects. Regardless, she can get through it and conquer this disease. As a caregiver for her, your support will be invaluable at those times that it gets to be heavy going for her, so hang in there and keep your mom hanging in there also.