Meg

Of course Liz tells it like it is. You wanted a glimpse of the future, not our opinions. So please disregard the middle part of my post about myself, perhaps your post hit too close to home on my Mom's death- But please do consider my rephrasing the questions to the doctors at the end of - I had a very difficult time getting explicit information on what would happen if I passed on this surgery and radiation, just generalities and those questions worked for me. While it's true that everyone is different etc, it's likely that they have seen patients who died of this cancer and can describe that for you unless they have cured every patient (not true for my doctors so they did reluctantly describe specifics about tumor choking throat, sores etc). You will want the doctors thinking NOW about how to make it easier for your mom.
Charm