Chris,

My daughter had surgery for base of tongue SCC and then, on the doctor's recommendation, had radiation without any chemo and she is no longer on this earth. We will never know if adding chemo to the treatment regimen would have saved Heather, but IMHO, it is best to fight this with everything you can and that means RAD and chemo.

You might also want to ask about a Taxol/Carboplatin combination like Danny Boy had. I believe that has worked well for many OCF members. Although maybe Taxol/Carboplatin is the choice for chemo alone when dealing with a recurrence (when you can't do more RAD) and Cisplatin the choice in combination with RAD. I don't know that for sure, though. It's just a thought. But it may be worth asking about.

Rosie

Was primary caregiver to my daughter Heather who had stage IV base of tongue SCC w/ primary recurrence. Original diagnosis August 21st, 2002. Primary recurrence March 18th, 2003. Died October 6th, 2003.