Hi Everyone,

Thanks for responding to my previous post. I appreciate hearing your thoughts.

At this point, my mom and I are leaning towards the surgery. I started to doubt our thinking because some of my friends think it is crazy to do another surgery for something that is not guaranteed.

To answer your questions:

� I am very involved with my mom�s medical care. Although I live in VA and my parents are in NY, we maintain frequent contact. If I am not able to accompany my mom to doctors� visits, I make a point of chatting with the doctors via phone. She wants me to be involved in what is going on.

� The breast cancer is under control at this time. It�s been under control for the last four years.

�We are working with the doctors on getting a pain regiment that works for her. She is on Oxycodone and Oxycontin for the pain. Currently, the drugs seem to wear off before her next dose is due.

�The oral cancer appears to be the culprit of the pain. While she feels discomfort with the tongue, the jaw seems to cause the most pain.

I asked the surgeon about the possibility of replacing the jaw bone with bone from another part of the body. He feels that type of surgery would be too much for my mom to handle. However, I never thought about asking about prosthetics. Does anyone have experience with them?

Les