My name is Heidi and I am the daughter in law of a 4 yr survivor of oral cancer. She had much of the roof of her mouth removed, lost a sinus cavity, and nearly lost her eye because of it. She also ended up having all her teeth removed and having implants made due to the deformity. It was a tough few years dealing with the stages of the prosthesis, and finally when it was all done and her mouth was pronounced "done", one week later she was diagnosed with esophageal cancer (over a year ago). She had chemo and rad for that and at her 1 yr anniversary was pronounced NED.

Her oral cancer was only treated surgically, we found out later that she had never been sent to oncology or radiation of any sort! (we were not living in the same state and were in the middle of our own crisis with a seriously ill child).

Anyway... it now appears that the oral cancer may have made a come-back... waiting to hear on biopsies from under her tongue. She is pretty upset, understandably. Simply cannot imagine losing part of her tongue... speech is difficult as it is with the implants. Her mouth has been a mess for so long now... she is g-tube fed since she can only swallow a couple of ounces a day.

She wants to know if this has made a return, and she decides not to treat, what might the progression be, and how would it affect her daily life. She is 82, and worn out from the last 4 yrs. She now lives with us (we brought her here with the EC diagnosis, she had lost 20% of her body weight and there was no way she could go through chemo/rad alone... will never again be at a point where she can live without assistance). I have told her we should wait to find out if it is indeed OC,but it will help me to help her if we can find out the possibilities so we can discuss them at that point.

Thanks for any help you might be able to give!

Heidi

Wow, Heidi, that`s alot! But, you`ver certainly come to the right place for support.........My husband has gone the opposite direction, started under the tongue, went to carotid artery and now we are dealing with the sinus cavity stuff.......Your Mother-in-Law at her age has certainly been through a great deal, and you know by now, it`s just one day at a time, and waiting for any results leaves us all in limbo.........I`m sure you`ll get lots of support and answers here...........Prayers Your Way, Dee