Thank you sooo much everybody for your responses. I have printed all the advice for my mom and will give it to her tommorrow as we are going to the horse races to celebrate my sisters birthday. Well we've made it through week two and only a few sores in her mouth and a little sick to her stomach on Thursday after the chemo on Tuesday but the meds for that seemed to help her a bit. Shes only eating soft foods now and she still has a little bit of taste so shes happy about that. She says milkshakes and frozen yogurt taste pretty good. We got the results of the PET scan and its good news! It shows no "Hot Spots" anywhere in her body and when compared to the scan from October appears to be the same with the exception of area where they did the surgery in December but the oncologist says thats just residual because she was not completely healed from the surgery yet. What a relief that was. I hate waiting for results. I think thats when things get really tough for me. The news from the PET scan really cheered mom up and she feels very confident that everything is going to be ok. That makes me feel much better....She's also really happy that she has these two days off and she can have a good weekend.
Gary....Thank you for the wealth of info. I will pass it on to my mom. You are truly a wonderful person for taking so much of you time to help others. Knowing there are people like you out there make this much easier for me. My mom stopped working right before Christmas because of the surgery. She will be off until the 1st of June. From what I've read about the recovery time I hope she will be ready to go back by then.
Mark....I begin to think that may be the case. For example my mom will not get on the website or research anything on the internet and I respect that. It makes me wonder how many others are like her out there. Its my thoughts that after treatment and recovery some people just want to get on with their lives and move forward and put the cancer thing behind them and not look back. My oral hygenist checks my mouth and tongue for cancer everytime I get my teeth cleaned I asked her about her experience with SCC and she told me that she has referred a number of people to specialists and two of them ended up having SCC one has just reached her 5 years cancer free and the other just reached 9 years. That made me feel good I like hearing the good news....
Joanna.....It sounds as if you handled it wonderfully all things considered. I hope my mom can do the same. So far so good. She is a very strong woman she raised me, my brother and sister as a single mom with no support from anybody. Now she has a 13 year old son and I have a 4 month old little girl "Keeley" (her first grandchild) so she has a lot reasons to be strong and pull through this. Our family is very close and she is the glue that holds us together....
Karen.....I did not mean that they are all horror stories I have read some of the most uplifting and powerful stories from people who seem sooo incredible to me that they have conquered this and come out on top. I just meant that knowing that radiation in the head and neck area is the hardest area to have it and it seems like a lot of people have had a really hard time with it. I was just trying to see if anybody could share experiences that aren't as bad as it seems. I worry so about my mom. Sooo much that I feel my life will not be normal until this is over and we get through this and I can breathe again. Being the mother of a four month old I really need my mom to help me I guess I've always relied on her for a lot of things.
Michelle......Isn't it amazing how you learn to talk all over again. My moms doctor took what was the front of her tongue and made it the side therefore it rolled funny for a while but since its a muscle it taught itself how to fold the other way or she taught it. Her speech is very good all things considered its just a little lispy at times. Its been 9 months since that surgery and she only saw the speech therapist once. I can't even begin to imagine how it would be to have that done to my tongue or mouth. Funny how you mention the childbirth thing. I was 4 months pregnant when my mom was first diagnosed with cancer. They were so worried about stressing me out that they almost didn't want to tell me but we made it through everything. I think the hardest part was when she was in the hospital with a traik. I can't imagine that radiation could be worse than those few weeks. She was sooooo uncomfortable..My mom had my little brother with no medication what-so-ever. I personally had an epidural at 5 cm. So needless to say my mom is extremely tough. She is somewhat spirtual and does regularly go to church so there is quite a bit of prayer going on in our family. I have nothing but positive things to say to her and I know we can beat this.

Thank you again everybody for all your support and advice. I will have you all in my prayers....
Danielle