Thanks y'all. Dad is on anti-biotics. He has been since November when they did the biopsy. I talked to mom about this yesterday, not saying too much because I didn't want her to panic. She said they saw it at radiation and chemo yesterday and said it was normal. He will see the RO tomorrow that is filling in while the regular RO is on vacation.

We have been working on managing the pain for a while now. The main med's have steadily increased in the last month. He is now on 75 mcg's of Fentanyl and takes 2 percocet every four hours - which really after 3 hours its starting to wear off.

My gut tells me that this is all palliative care because I don't see how they can shrink this tumor, much less kill it. But I'm not a doctor so I have to stop thinking so much. I have to realize it's still early in his treatments and while I'm not seeing results right now, it doesn't mean that it's not working.

Thanks for your input and letting me vent.

Joy


CG to Father, 75 yo with SCC of the mouth; upper maxillectomy and neck diss. performed on 5/23/07. Father also suffered heart attack during surgery and now has CHF. RT complete on 8/28/07. Cancer back 11/27/07. RT and Chemo to start on 12/17. Cancer back 6/17/08. Finally at rest 08/08/08.