Brian,

Thank goodness for this: "That is why there are advocates like me on the group to piss and moan and push for what the oral cancer community needs." Keep pissing and moaning!

In part because of my personality and in part because of my background, I find research on this stuff, including the limitations of that research, interesting. I'm just intrigued by science, basically, and by medical innovations. My grandfather was a heart surgeon at Columbia Med. school and he started his career back in the dark ages of medicine and kept up with innovations in his field into his late 90s. Knowing about the improvements he saw in treatments over seven decades(including ones he pioneered), I have quite an optimistic view of what medical research can achieve over time. Learning about new research on treating and preventing oral cancer feels like part of what makes the intrusion of this disease into my life bearable. It takes me out of myself and my own personal misery. But I know I'm a minority in this.

What I love about this forum, though, is the personal support I have found for every little hard piece of this battle, and the times when I have been able to offer some support to someone else. That also takes me out of myself and I agree that that is what the discussions here should mainly be about.

Nelie