I am 58yrs old, new to this site and i have suffered a lot till now but still fighting. I don't smoke nor drink alcohol. neverthless i was diagnosed with tongue cancer seven yrs ago. the tumor was on the right side of the base of my tongue, a small white patch. i had my first surgery in 2000. after 3yrs of being disease free in 2003 I had a reoccurence, at exactly the same place. second surgery and then IMRT, that was ceased for a while due to the side-effects.till 2006 i had 2 more surgeries(2004,2005) because of the tumor keep coming back at the same place.then in June 2006 along with the tongue there were also some glands that were affected. i started chemo(parapaltin,Erbitux) but i think things got worse instead of better, more glands were affected and finally i had the fifth surgery that was really very serious and difficult, including tongue and right side neck dissection. after the surgery i had XRT + chemo at the same time in my neck to destroy any remaining cancer cells at that area. but unfortunately last week week that i visited my surgeon he told me that there is a new ca on the tongue and that we need to have 1/2 glossectomy asap. on the other side my oncologist says that i should first have a chemo (Erbitux+cisplatin) and then surgery. but i am not sure if i have this time. i have to decide and honestly i don't know what to do. i am really tired from all these I have been through and want so much to know what would be the right choice, so if you pls could advise me taht would make me feel much better
good luck to all of us.