Hello Kashif,

Sorry to hear about your mother's recent diagnosis.

Welcome to the forums, and there should be lots of folks who have been in similar shoes, and hopefully quite a few nuggets of helpful wisdom you may find from other peoples journeys.

I hope she is recovering well and her pain and discomfort is managed well.

I hope you find some peace and rest amidst all the stress.

Glad you were there to take a picture and had a maxillofacial surgeon friend to consult with with a pretty rapid work up and initial surgery. 8th of August to 19th of August with all those testing and then the partial glossectomy, that's a pretty rapid response, and it seems you did quite well in accomplishing all that in such a quick time frame.

I am early in my journey, and had a very minimal partial glossectomy on a tiny tumor, did not need a neck dissection or lymph nodes biopsied as of yet, so I can't help you much with what to expect with the more intensive surgeries and radiation.

But there are others here who have been down a very similar path to both your mother, and yourself as a care giver and loved one.

I had a precancerous lesion that was being followed for several years.

Over those several years I had familiarized myself with this forum and read up on things, even before my lesion spawned a cancer.

The one nugget of wisdom I gathered early on, and made a promise to myself that if any future biopsy ever came back as cancer I'd be seeking treatment at a Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC), and one with a good oral cancer team.

Sounds like you have an excellent surgeon, but if you are looking for a good oncologist or cancer radiologist to consult with, that hints to me you may not be currently at a CCC.

My surgery was done at a CCC, but the tumor so tiny, the Tumor Board approach was not invoked in my case, as we are hopeful for a 100% surgical cure (although I have a new leukoplakia that popped up close to the tumor scar that is not giving me a warm and fuzzy feeling right now, about 6 months after surgery). My surgeon is seeing me every 2 months and he may biopsy the new lesion next visit.

However should I have a recurrence, I am pretty sure that would invoke the Tumor Board approach (or I'd insist on it) where they gather a whole team of Oncological Surgeon(s), Radiologist, and Oncologists to review your mothers (and my, or whoever's) situation.

So it is a more integrated approach with a team of doctors who likely have a good deal of experience working closely with each other (or at least other similar specialist) as a team on similar cases as ours.

That's the only advice that I might suggest, if a CCC is available reasonably close to you, to see about a consultation with them or flat out just seeking their treatment as a patient.

There should be lots of people in these forums that have been down a road very similar.

You may be able to find someone in a very similar situation in their old post(s), if you dont see an answer to your message quickly by someone in shoes more closely fitted to your mother than I am.

Browsing through the different sections or searching for things may help as you read the other encouragement and advice people who have "been there, done that, and got the T-shirt" have given other folks with new diagnosis or just recovering from surgery at different stages or just getting fitted for radiation, or transferring to different medical systems etc...

You absolutely did not post any thing wrong (I was a bit apprehensive of that too when I first started posting stuff).

It sounds like the surgeon went aggressive with rooting out any likely possible lymph nodes. Even if they come back cancerous, that is one of the first places they go, and the nearest ones to the region they call "sentinel" (as in guard or alarm) lymph nodes capture the tumor. The enlarged ones are suspect, but I had several "reactive lymph nodes" that were inflamed due to cold/flu and a tetanus shot, and stitches on my finger. All that to say you can have enlarged lymph nodes that may just be part of an immune system response to infection or inflammation and may not be cancerous at all. Even if they did trap the migrating cancer cells and a spread started, the hope is with the relatively quick diagnosis and treatment you described, the bad ones were excised and with Radiation and whatever other treatments your medical team advises you will be well situated in your fight to eradicate any lingering cancer.

Hopefully I did not violate any protocols myself.

I've been more active myself lately as I am post surgery and a tad antsy about the new spot, and see some folks with recent diagnosis I'd like to offer some solace.

Keep your chin up, try to get some rest and take it day by day, week by week, rolling with the punches the best you folks can.

I hope you find some peace and can relax a little despite the challenges and unknowns.

Sincerely,

Chris