Hi all,

Just an update on dad. He completed his radiation treatments in August and was doing well. Had a little bout of swelling about two weeks after finishing radiation, but our radiation oncologist gave him some antibiotics and it went away. Then, he had a tooth fall out right near the place where his fibular flap connected to his actual jaw. Then, he had an abscess, which blew out and drained. Then, we went to a new ent, who sent us back to Boston, where our surgeon removed the infected tissue and biopsied a patch and the bone. Cancer had recurred in the superficial soft tissue, but was so new it wasn't even detectable on ct scans, and he had an antibiotic resistant e. coli bacteria in his abscess. So, here we are about 7 days after his third surgery, having another section of bone removed, infected tissue removed and his chin reconstructed with bone from his shoulder blade and skin/muscle from his back.Dad's doing really well. Looks a lot better than I thought he would, too, which was a relief. Its hard to explain how scared I was that he wouldn't look like Dad anymore. I would love him anyway, of course, but I was still worried sick over it, and his quality of life. Dr said he got negative margins and that the cancer hadn't begun to affect the bone. I'm afraid to ask after having done this for a year now, but what happens now? Just hope it doesn't come back again? Are there successful treatments for oral cancer after you've already done chemo and radiation?