Terri Lee,

I'm sorry your mother is confronted with another battle after going through this last year.

I don't have any personal experience with Tulane, so I can't comment directly on their oncology department. However, elsewhere on this site you can look under "Other Resources" to find both the NCI-designated list of major cancer centers and the latest U.S. News and World Reports list of best cancer hospitals in the country. I did note that Tulane doesn't seem to appear on either list. You might try to see whether she can get a second opinion from someplace like M.D. Anderson, where there is truly a great deal of head and neck cancer expertise.

Since your mother has already had radiation once, I assume the plan for additional radiation involves an area that wasn't treated in the past. Chemo/radiation can be increasingly difficult to handle as the treatment progresses (and for weeks or months afterward), so if she's still feeling some side effects from the last time, you're right to be concerned about whether her home surroundings are conducive to her recovery. Is there someone (friend or family) who can stay with her to be sure she is OK throughout the next round of treatment, or alternatively, can she relocate temporarily to a spot where her day-to-day environment might be better?

Cathy