I am extremely confused. My 48 year old mother was diagnosed in September 2008 with a small tumor on the side of her tongue. By the end of October she was extremely dehydrated and they inserted a feeding tube into her stomach. The tumor had become so large on her tongue that she could barely swallow. At around the same time they did a CT scan and serval lymph nodes were now involved. They had originally scheduled her surgery for December 5, but realized that the cancer was just too aggressive and moved it up to November 10. After the doctor was involved in car accident they then moved it to November 17. She had a 16 hour surgery, they removed almost her entire tongue and used part of her arm to rebuild and also grafted her upper thigh. They did a complete neck dissection and placed a traech in at the time of surgery. They stated that when they went in the cancer had spread even more into lymph nodes on the other side and down closer to her collar bone. They were not able to get all of the cancer out either. Two weeks ago she completed 7 weeks of radiation (5 days a week) and 3 sessions of chemo. She has severe swelling in her face and was having chest pain and they did a lot of tests this past Friday. They said there is cancer in her lungs. They have started her on anti-bodies once a week. I guess my question is what should we expect? It seems to me that it is just too aggressive for her to fight. I want to optimistic, but not naive.