Annabel
The tumor staging is made up of a number for tumor size (T) the degree of lymph nodal involvement (N) and any distant Metastasis (M)
A stage T1N0M0 would be a very early stage 1 and a T3N3M1 would be a late stage 4
More information Here at The OCF web site:
http://www.oralcancerfoundation.org/facts/stages_cancer.htm PET scan stands for Positron Emission Tomography, in laymans terms a radioactive compound together with sugar is given to the patient while in a scanning machine sensitive to the radioactive material. The cells in the body that consume more of the sugar show up better than the other cells (or groups of cells). It so happens that cancer cells eat a lot of sugar so they show up well with this technology. They sometimes show other tissues as "hot" when it is not cancer. Tissues healing from the effects of treatments for instance. You can find more information here at the Oral Cancer Foundation:
web page Occult mets. would be any hidden metastatic cancer. As the stage of this cancer increases, the chance of distant metastatic cancer also increases. However because it might still be too small to be symptomatic or even detected by scaning PET, CT or MRI, You might hear it referred to as "a possibility of occult mets." these might be later found in the lungs, liver, bone etc.
An occult primary is an original tumor that has not been located. It is known to exist because it has caused other problems like a positive node.
Supporting your mother might include reminding her not to get caught up in the statistics. They can be frightening, but she can make it.
