Brian, you are exactly right. My first posting was back in February when he was first diagnosed with a stage 4, 5 x 6 scc on the right base of his tongue, which had spread to (at that time we thought more than one)lymph nodes on the right side of his neck. I live outside of Chicago and he leaves in Memphis with his son and due to timing, opted to stay and be treated at the U of TN Cancer Center in Memphis. However; three doctors "the team", an oncologist, radiation doctor and surgeon decided that the initial surgery would be too evasive and had him to go on and get his teeth removed (he ended up only having lower teeth extracted)to prepare for radiation. Because things so agressive we asked if anything else could be done while waiting for healing so they started induction chemo. Three rounds of cisplatin, 5fu and docetaxal; after which the scans showed that there was still one tumor in his neck; however, the tumor at the base of his tongue had reduced approximately 60%. The surgeon apparently saw scans and thought it was more like 70 -75% and decided that now he could go in and remove it and that he wouldn't lose a salivary gland and have other such issues as he would with radiation and if he gets it all then he won't have to have a full dose of radiation. Well, as such, he went in for the first surgery and we were told that the doctor didn't have enough space to get clear margins and after the pathology report 90% of the tumor removed was cancerous...which we didn't find out until after his second emergency surgery which through him into a very deep depression. He went back to see the oncologist on Thursday who advised him that he wouldn't have any more life-threatening situations and that he should continue with them and do the full 7 weeks of radiation, the couple days of chemo won't be the same as before, and that he could start on Monday, 6/12; however, the radiation doctor's nurse said that it would probably be another week since they are still planning. I was concerned first, because I wasn't sure of how long you're suppose to wait to begin radiation, why only remove the one node and not check others and I didn't trust anything from the surgeon after he explicity explained to me right after the second surgery that "he had no idea of why he was bleeding the way he did, but we'll keep him in ICU to make sure it doesn't happen again." I've gotten him to at least agree to coming to Chicago this week for second opinions (appointments scheduled all week), but even when he signed the release of records form he still noted that he was leaning towards staying in Memphis to complete his treatment due to various financial obligations. I'm so confused, lost and want the best for him and I don't believe that he needs to finish where he is. Am I being too insistent or what?
