Administrator, Director of Patient Support Services Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) Joined: Jun 2007 Posts: 10,507 Likes: 7 | Jasper, thats a big decision you have to make!
Please think about these things while you decide which path to take. By watching and waiting whatever is going on has time to grow and become a serious situation. Ive seen many patients go thru oral cancer recurrences, many of them had bad outcomes. Oral cancer is hard enough to get thru once, let alone ever having to go thru any further treatments for it again. The watch and wait method will give you a very long apprehensive 3 months to go thru. Think about how you will get thru every single day wondering if you have something to worry about or not. I wouldnt wish that kind of stress on my worst enemy. If you decide to go ahead and have the surgery then you will not be second guessing everything for the next 3 months while waiting for the check up. If it were me, I would lean towards taking care of things now instead of having a bigger issue (could be a serious life threatening problem) down the road. But its up to you. ChristineSCC 6/15/07 L chk & by L molar both Stag I, age44 2x cispltn-35 IMRT end 9/27/07 -65 lbs in 2 mo, no caregvr Clear PET 1/08 4/4/08 recur L chk Stag I surg 4/16/08 clr marg 215 HBO dives 3/09 teeth out, trismus 7/2/09 recur, Stg IV 8/24/09 trach, ND, mandiblctmy 3wks medicly inducd coma 2 mo xtended hospital stay, ICU & burn unit PICC line IV antibx 8 mo 10/4/10, 2/14/11 reconst surg OC 3x in 3 years very happy to be alive |