Thanks Brian. I wanted to strongly suggest that Heather go along with the recommendation that she start chemo ASAP. I was hoping that was what you would say. I was the one who first brought up the subject of clinical trials and now regret that I even mentioned it.
The reason I started looking in that direction is because the surgeon first said her chances are less than 10%, then amended that to "actually even less than that". He then mentioned that hospice care may be a consideration for the near future. He was looking at a time frame of less than a year. To give him some credit, the next day he did say that since this was a fast growing tumor, that chemo might have a fair chance of halting it. But he definitely does not have the positive attitude that he had when we started this odyssey in August.

A couple of the OCF members have e-mailed me privately and have given me an extra helping of support and of hope. Thanks Dinah, Donna & Eileen. We should hear something today about when we can get a consultation at Johns Hopkins.

Financially, we are not well-to-do, but we have excellent credit. I've always thought it ridiculous that credit card companies keep increasing our credit limit , because there's no way we would ever put $25,000 on a credit card, but for this, we certainly will if necessary. After this is all over, I will just have to go get a job again so we can pay it back! :p

Thanks again everyone for all the info and support.
Rainbows & hugs, wink
Rosie

Was primary caregiver to my daughter Heather who had stage IV base of tongue SCC w/ primary recurrence. Original diagnosis August 21st, 2002. Primary recurrence March 18th, 2003. Died October 6th, 2003.