Mt name is Donna and i have never had to exoerience any of this. My Mom who is 87 was diagnosed on April 7th with Squarmous cell carcinoma of the mouth. She had surgery on May 9th to remove a tumor that had grown quite quickly on the left back upper #16 molar. She had the tumor removed,has an obturatorand had the neck dissection 16 nodes 1 positive. T4N1MO. She has recovered quite well considering the intensity of the surgeryThe Surgeon is recommending radiation therapy with possible Chemo. I am very concerned with her having that type of treatment due to her age. Any thoughts or alternate treatment ideas?

Hello Donna, this is quite a dilemma.
Only you know how your Mum may cope with this. Is her general health good? Is she independent and active?
This treatment is brutal , no doubt about it. Mum will need lots of support and encouragement to complete this treatment.
If this was my Mother, I would encourage her to do the rads and chemo only if her health was otherwise excellent and she was fully independent and active with a good quality of life. I would think very carefully about this.
I do not have any alternatives to suggest as I don't think that there is anything else out there that will effect a cure.
When my husband had his salvage surgery and all margins were clear, he was not offered any further chemo or rads, 27 months later he is clear of disease.
Do you know if your Mothers surgical margins were clear of disease?
Have you had a 2nd opinion from a Comprehensive Cancer Centre. I would encourage you to do this. Get some further opinions on treatment options. Then, together with your Mum, weigh everything up and make a decision you are both happy with.
Take care, Tammy

Hi Donna..welcome! So sorry you and your Mom have to go through this...especially at her age I, too, had squamous cell carcinoma but mine was in my right tonsil. I had a lump removed from my neck which was not the primary, and after testing, the primary was determined to be the toncil. I did not have surgery to remove the toncil, but did have 35 radiation treatments and 2 chemo. The treatment and recovery I found challenging but I knew in the long run it was the best choice for me. I would ask the risks for your Mother with her age..I did see some seniors having the same treatment as me but you would be best to discuss with the radiation oncologist and if you want, also get a second opionion. Take care and good luck..we are all here if you need support or have questions..Sharon

Remember none of us on this site are cancer doctors so our opinions are based upon our experience with this cancer and this site.

Tough treatment, tough decision. As Tammay points out at 87 if your Mom is in relative good heath and can stand this 7+ weeks of badness then I would say go for it but if otherwise and only you 2 know what otherwise might be, I would think hard about subjecting her to it. We all can react differently but my experience on this site for the past 8 years or so tells me that about 10% breeze through; 10% have problems from day 1 and the rest of us 80% start experiencing problems around week 4 and it's gets progressively worse until around week 3 after radiation has stopped. This is then followed by about 2 years of recovery with the 1st year being the more challanging.

Look this is a very difficult cancer to stop and I'm assuming her cancer was not positive for HPV, which would be better, so often the surgery is not enough, especially at her Stage which I assume was Stage IV and the fact that there was nodal involvement so without the followup of radiation and chemo chances are it will reappear which would either mean more surgery and or radiation and chemo or death. It's not 100% that it will reappear but my experience tells me there's a high percentage that it will. Even if she undergoes the radiation and chemo there's no assurance that it won't reappear later. Many on this site have had multiple recurrences followed up by multiple treatments but one thing is for sure and that is if it comes back and it's not treated it will result in death.

Tough decision.

yeah I am again going to agree with this. Treatment is brutal but if she's in good health then I would say give it a go. The one down side to not having the treatment that no one has mentioned is the fact that this type of cancer can recur. (has a very high incidence - less so if she follows through with the full treatment) if this happens then the two options would be - do nothing (a horrible way to die) and rads and chemo - at which point her health will be even more compromised.

Not an easy decision to make. Is your mom a fighter? Does she feel she has a lot more living to do? Is she in good health? And most importantly what does she want?

My father in law had a few big issues (he's 77) he had diabetes, high blood pressure, etc.. typical for his age. He was dx's with esophageal cancer- he made it through rads and chemo and a super invasive surgery and is doing well. It can be done. Mind you the location of the radiation meant it had minimal impact on his day to day, where as rads to the head and mouth is MIGHTY unfun.

Hugs.

Welcome to OCF.

As already stated, treatments are hard and at your Mom's age, the decision criteria is different than much younger and vital patients. My advice is to gather as much knowledge about quality of life post treatment of older patients.

That combined with your mother's own state of health and wishes also weigh in to the decision.

Last week my mother-in-law celebrated her 99th and amazingly spry and sound of mind. There is no reason at all she won't cross 100 next year. She had major hip surgery in her eighties and at that point I would not have given her but a few years but a medical procedure extended her life by at least a decade.

Good luck,
Don

Welcome to OCF! Im glad you have found our group to help you and your mother with info and support. While we do not have medical backgrounds, we do speak from the patients and caregivers viewpoint.

Best wishes with all your difficult decisions!

Tammy
The margins were clear. She did have 1 node that tested positive
Yes I am going to be getting another opinion as well as I am looking into alternative supplements especially considering her age. If she can make it 2-4 years and have quality of life it is worth it.

Thanks for the advice

While looking for alternatives, please understand the only scientifically proven ways to get rid of oral cancer is thru surgery or radiation with or without chemo. Thats it, nothing else will work. Even chemo by itself is used for pallitive care not as a cure.

Best wishes with everything!

A quick but impassioned "AMEN" to what Christine just said.

I lost both my favorite cousin and his lovely wife to disregarding that fundamental truth and pursuing "alternative medicine."

I still get angry thinking about that.