I wondered about that, too, David. We are fortunate here in having administrators who are vigilant in making sure that any advice asked for is completely understandable and any suggestions given are absolutely accurate. In order to do that I can see how crucial it is in having an accurate translation to work with and the time to do it.

Ideally, it would take someone whose native language is Spanish to translate from Spanish to English but with a medical background, and experience with oral cancer, although there are some very helpful advanced bi-lingual or Tri-lingual medical dictionaries available at University libraries for use by those without a medical background. (I made successful use of them when doing some French to English translations in psychological case histories for a Psych prof before retiring from UT). I have some knowledge and experience in Spanish but my own native background is French. However, here are my thoughts:

1) Maybe there are some Spanish speakers on this forum that would have the time to translate from Spanish to English and so that the administrators would know what help or suggestions the poster needed?

2) The Administrator could write a reply and then a native Spanish speaker could translate to English?

3) Or maybe there is a totally Spanish language support group for Oral Cancer for her someplace or in her country or at hospital she is associated with?

I was so touched by the plea of the original poster that I wrote what I thought might encourage her to keep going and survive her ordeal with OC. Here is my English summary of what she said: She is 43, was operated for tongue cancer and they removed some lymph nodes from her neck which were negative. She was going to be treated with radiation and that they were evaluating the possibility of also doing chemotherapy. She is very frightened, cries, can�t sleep and feels like her tongue is swollen. She feels she cannot do this alone and needs to share and get some support. To summarize my reply: I told her that it was good the cancer was caught at an early stage, told her about my son�s successful recovery that he also had a swollen tongue that only lasted a short time and I suggested she talk to her doctor about how she is feeling in case he/she could suggest something that would help her.

My suggestions 1 and 2 do seem time-consuming. Perhaps someone else has better ideas? Or has time to do some translations if needed by the Administrators?


Anne-Marie
CG to son, Paul (age 33, non-smoker) SCC Stage 2, Surgery 9/21/06, 1/6 tongue Rt.side removed, +48 lymph nodes neck. IMRTx28 completed 12/19/06. CT scan 7/8/10 Cancer-free! ("spot" on lung from scar tissue related to Pneumonia.)