thanks for your reply cheryld.

The original plan was to shrink the tumor with chemo and then do a surgery to remove the rest.

but by not giving my dad the strongest possible chemo treatment how could this be achieved?

my dad never complained about the fever (he has open wounds right now in his neck ... which really explains why he gets a fever right after the chemo)

but both he and i believe that he can stand up to this. my dad is still able to walk, carry out daily activities and is PEG tube is keeping him nourished.

I'm going to seek second opinion from the public hospitals and try to get another doctor to carry out the docetaxel + carboplatin + Erbitux plan

I clean my dads wounds everyday and during the first cycle, i saw immediate shrinkage of the tumors and my dads voice was clear and not sandy (meaning that the tumor shrank and moved away from his vocal chords).

Has anyone done 8 rounds of chemo before? A doctor from Memorial sloan kettiinger recommended this ..... he clearly would have known that my dad would get fevers and simply would need hospital assistance everytime. or else why would he say 8 rounds.

what do you guys think? I want my dad to live, hes only 61

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Care giver to father 61
SCC Tongue T1N2b stage IVA
6/1/12 - Tumor BOT (SCC)
6/10/12 - PET scans show 2 lymph node
6/30/12 - Glossectomy with 2/38 LNs 1cm clear marg
8/22/12 - started chemoRT (poor tolerance to Cisplatin)
10/2012 - 2 rounds of chemo only and RT completed
5/2013 - Upper left neck wounds started breaking down
8/2013 - PET scan shows recurrence and metastasis bottom of neck and possible lung
9/5/2013 - chemo: docetaxel/carboplatin + Erbitux