Dear all,

My father had a surgery 3 weeks ago of Stage II mouth cancer (cancer was under his tonque) - part of the tonque was removed, all teeth were removed, some lymphnodes were removed. All clear was stated with no need of further treatment (no radiation, chemo), only follow ups in every month in the beginning. He can talk quite understandably and eat soft food.

My concern is that prior the diagnosis he used to drink around 7-8 bottles of beer a day and was very heavy smoker (3 packages a day)

I talked to my mother and found out that he already started smoking again (not much at the moment, but still), no beer yet, but I am afraid it is just a matter of time.

His excuse was that at the hospital he met many people who had never smoked/drinked and still developed the cancer.

So I will go to visit him on Saturday and would like to talk to him about the dangers of what he is doing to himself.

I was thinking that maybe you could refer me some articles or stories about how this kind of behaviour can make the prognosis worse/"helps" the cancer to reccur and so on.

I have read about Sigmund Freud, but maybe there is something else you think I could use to persuade my father about the importance of his own actions.

Thank you
Jaanika