Hi Gino,
There was one poster on here, along with her sister, that touched me and I think of her alot. Her name was Marcy and her sisters name was Michelle. Below I have copied and pasted some of her posts and some of her sisters posts. Marcy died last April, she was 32 years old, mother of a 4 year old girl. She had tongue cancer, with one lymphnode affected. She didn't have radiation. Please read hers and her sisters words to get a feeling for why some of us are pushing you to radiation.
Marcy
Contributing Member (25+ posts)
Member # 965
posted January 28, 2004 09:08 PMJanuary 28, 2004 05:08 PM
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Brian,
Your situation sounds alot like my sister Marcy's.
Her first surgery was January 03, resection of tongue and lymph nodes. One node positive and they told us they didn't recommend radiation. If only we could turn back time and have tried the radiation right away. In June she had a recurrance in her neck and submental area. Then they recommended radiation and chemo. After this she had a radical neck dissection. 2 months later the tumors recurred in the neck, face, and also skull mets and c1 mets. She was in such horrible pain. Her tumors are continuing to grow so fast it doesn't even seem possible. She also got the pneuomonia last week and had to be admitted for 2 weeks. She received the Gamma knife for her bone mets and now they are going to do IMRT for the tumors in the face and neck. Is this what your friend is receiving. They want to try and shrink the tumors so she has longer to live and less pain. She is on a morphine pump at my mom's and still in alot of pain. I don't know how much more of this she can take. Watching this pain in my beautiful little sister is heart wrenching, she is only 32 and has a beautiful 4 year old daughter. We continue to pray hoping God will change his mind and let her stay with us.
God Bless you,
Michelle
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Michelle, sister to Marcy
Dx January 03, partial glossectomy/selective neck dissection T2N1MO/recurrence June 03, radiation and chemo/recurrence Dec. 03 mets to spine and base of skull//palliative care//lost her April 10th 2004 Age of 32
Marcy
Contributing Member (25+ posts)
Member # 965
posted July 25, 2005 10:24 PMJuly 25, 2005 06:24 PM
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Hi Dave,
I read your post and thought I would tell you what they did for my sister Marcy. She was diagnosed with I believe a stage 2 SCC of her lateral tongue, she was 31. They did a partial glossectomy and neck dissection. She was very scared about losing part of her tongue but she could speak very good after she healed. She did have 1 postitive lymph node. They chose to do nothing else for Marcy afer her surgery because she had only one positive lymph node. NOW I can't even begin to imagine why her doctors wouldn't have recommended aggressive treatment.
Marcy had a CT scan 3 1/2 months later that showed her cancer had spread extensively throughout her neck. THEN she had chemo and radiation and also a radical neck dissection.
Nothing could stop her cancer at this point. I suggest you treat the cancer as aggressive as possible. I believe Marcy should have received rad and chemo immediatly not wait those three months. Marcy felt something wasn't right from the beginning but her doctors didn't always listen....
Anyway, that is some of Marcy's story.
I wish you the very, very best as you make your decision.
Bless you,
Michelle
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Michelle, sister to Marcy
Dx January 03, partial glossectomy/selective neck dissection T2N1MO/recurrence June 03, radiation and chemo/recurrence Dec. 03 mets to spine and base of skull//palliative care//lost her April 10th 2004 Age of 32
