I have sent a PM about this to a member who has a similar case to mine. I would also like to get the opinion of some more of my friends. Don't ask me why it takes me a little while to get worked up about somethimg. I don't know why it does, but I am feeling that something is not right.

I have another tumor that has appeared in my right cheek/jaw and it appeared within 4 months of my last surgery. It has been terribly confusing to me because first the doctor said that it was related to my dental work. I am wondering if my doctor really thought that or if she just told me that to keep me from worrying that it was the cancer. I intend to ask her and make sure that she remembers our deal is that no matter what I always get the truth. I would certainly rather have the truth than something that is glossed over just to keep me from being stressed out.

The doctors have said that there is nothing more that they can do for me and have offered the Erbitux. I am doing the Erbitux treatments once a week. The thing that they have not wanted to do is more scans saying that there is no need to spend the money. I say that we can not know what we are fighting without the scans. I plan to go stomp my feet and insist that I have a scan so that we can stage this cancer and know what I am dealing with on Weds when I have my next appoinment.

Right now all I know is that they cut my neck twice to relieve an abscess and it did feel much better right away. The first one has now healed, but the second one is still draining some and I can pack it with about 8 inches of packing. For a week it produced a cottage cheese type fluid, but now it is more a liquid with some color to it and a lot of bubbles from the "pathway". I do not understand the bubbles coming out of the wound at all.

The other thing that I do not understand is the swelling in my jaw/cheek and right side of my face. The swelling is very hard and I can not get any fluid from the wound by working any of the area that is swollen. The more swollen it gets the more painful it is to talk and it has reached the point on quite a few days where I will not talk at all because it hurts. The swelling also concerns me when I try to swallow. I have not had any complete blockage, but it does feel difficult to swallow when it is swollen.

I would really appreciate any opinions that you guys have about this and my doctor not wanting to do the scan right away. She says that she is not just putting me on a shelf to die and I know that she is concerned about me and she has stated that she can not do any more surgically for me because she would not put anyone through that. I feel that she has my best interest in her heart, but how can we know what we are dealing with if we don't know how big this tumor was on 4/15 when the biopsy came back positive and how big it is today May 12 almost a month later? Please tell me what you think? I can use the support and the guidance on how to be my own advocate please. I don't know how.