Well, Dan is in week 2 of chemo/rad. Last week was so bad, no energy, very bad constipation problems and reflux. Having a three day weekend seemed to help him get some engery back. Now we have more drugs to help with nausea/constipation, etc. and are keeping on top of it better. He has his PEG tube now.

Dan Bogan - how far into your treatment did you start using the PEG tube? I think by next week, Dan will be needing to use it.

The hard thing about all of this is that they say they won't be able to tell whether this treatment is working until a month after the last of his treatments. Since this is the only option for Dan due to the tumor being wrapped around his carotid and in his jugular, that is such a scary thought...

Also, the last MRI showed "something" in his forehead frontal lobe...might be just blood vessels, might be cancer mets to the brain. There is no edema at this time, and they will take another MRI in a month to compare.

Has anyone had anything like this where they couldn't get all the tumor by surgery? It's difficult because it seems to be our last option to try and get the cancer.

Thanks for sharing.
Deb

Debbie/Caregiver/wife of Dan, diagosed with SCC tongue, Stage II/III, 1/3 tongue removal, lymph node dissection both sides of neck, skin graph 7/30/03. Left tumor found - radical left neck dissection 12/24/03. Could not get all of tumor/wrapped around carotid artery and in wall of jugular. 1/12/04 beginning of 6 doses of Taxol/Cistoplatin once a week, and rad 70 gray 5 days a week/6 weeks.