Christine,

I while ago you shared wonderful information with me, and thank you. It's hard to counsel someone from miles away...especially as we grapple with my husband's melanoma treatments. As you mentioned - oral cancer is a different animal - a scary beast.

My brother in law had surgery at Mass Eye & Ear - he had surgery 2 weeks ago and lymph node dissection. Of the nodules that were removed with the neck lymph nodes, three were cancerous. The surgeon recommends a six-week (five days of week) course of radiation treatment of the mouth and neck, interspersed with chemotherapy. It would begin later this month. While the surgeon believes that he removed all the cancer from mouth and neck area, he stated “the research” indicates that a course of radiation combined with chemo lessens the possibility of a recurrence.

Over the last year, I feel I have read read and learned so much about melanoma, but what I have learned is that each patient needs to be an advocate. They haven't asked to have the records and have not had a second opinion yet.....not sure they even know what stage.

Sorry for so much info - is the radiation and chemo the standard of care? Do you know of any recommendations for specialists in the Boston area that you can offer for second opinions?? Sorry - this is a lot - and my info is second hand, but I thought that I might be able to help them long distance. I did recommend they register for this forum, I have gained so much from the melanoma patient forum, but I think that they are still wobbly with shock and some of the details on the forum are too scray still.

Any additional insight you can share would be great - promise not to write so much next time!

Rita