I need some advice, please! My mother who is 71 has just finished radiation treatments (about a week ago). She had 3 weeks of single rad and three weeks of twice a day and had been doing well until the treatments stopped. Now she has a ton of swelling in her mouth (tumor under her tongue) and sores have developed. She is in constant pain and is getting 15mg of oxycodone(sp?)every six hours, and can get more for breakthrough pain. She is also experiencing alot of confusion...(forgetting conversations, the day, the date) They had also been giving her klonipin 3 times a day to get her to her rad treatments (the mask!), but have started to wean her off of this. I have been very concerned about my Mum's mental status. She is very cloudy and confused. The doctors have told me that it's probably the meds, but have not been open to changing them. I certainly don't want to push for them to cut them back, it's important that my Mum is comfortable, but I'm not sure how to handle this. The doctor who is prescribing the pain meds is my mother's primary care guy who is a geriatric specialist. I'm pretty sure that this is his first radiation experience...she is rehabbing at a nursing home and this seems to be his territory (she was being treated at a local CCC, but they have deferred everyday treatment to the primary guy). Should I be pushing for a med change? Should I ask for a consult at the CCC for pain? I'm feeling very helpless and am being treated as if I'm a little stupid for asking all these questions by the primary guy! Any advise would be appreciated. Thanks

Samantha