vik, most members do NOT have recurrences! You may see alot of discussion about recurrences here as its everyones biggest fear. Im sorry but I do not know the specific numbers, they dont really mean much to me. I am a 3 time survivor who had little chance of survival but somehow I was fortunate enough to make it thru my 3rd round which was Stage IV. What I have learned over the years is pretty cut and dry, you will either make it or you wont and you will either get a recurrence or you wont. Living life worrying 'what if' will not do you any good. After the mental trauma of battling oral cancer, its pretty hard not to wonder and be concerned about it returning. Worrying about 'what if' it will not change anything at all, it will just steal your time away from you.

You may see many members that are the most active are the ones who have lived thru a recurrence. That isnt a true representation of the recurrence demographics of oral cancer. If you must look at numbers, I think the rate of recurrence is only about 25% of patients who are Stage III or IV for the first 2 years after treatment. So many things go into what the recurrence odds are that its hard to figure out where exactly your situation falls in the numbers game. You may find more recurrence members on the forum due to the fact that the one timers are busy out there living life. They pop in from time to time but many of the single round members arent daily users of the forum. They have recovered and returned to their old lives. Most of the recurrence members will have after effects and other ailments which they will discuss on the forum while also providing assistance to newer members. By helping others it is a great way to focus on the good that you can do instead of worrying about your own problems.

It sounds like your husband is doing very well and has a good prognosis of getting rid of his cancer. Thats the best that can happen! Take it day by day and time heals all wounds. Hang in there, things will improve and one day you will look back at all of this just like ti was a very bad dream.

Good luck!