Hi. I'm not sure of why I'm here really, other than searching for some information, advice, something.

My long time friend of 25 years has tongue cancer. She had one tumor removed in the fall and has already had a reoccurance. They removed the second tumor and took some lymphnodes from the neck. Only 1 in five came back positive (This is good news, right?). She is currently starting chemo (very aggressive-once a month she is admitted to the hospital for a five day period of 24hr chemo and also radiation treatments. She is only 38 years old.

I keep reading about how bad this kind of cancer is. Are there any survivors here of this kind of cancer? Is the fast reoccurance really a very bad thing?

Thanks for your help and understanding as I try to cope with this and more importantly, to help her cope with this.

Angel, I suspect you are here for support and advice and a hug. Your friend is going to need as much love as you can give her. Her chemo and radiation txs will be tough and she will hav eto be very brave-as you will, while you are supporting her. Noone can really know the outcome to this, so my advice to you is to "be in the present with her" each day that you can. Amy

AngelGirl1,

Yes, there are survivors and you will find many of them here. I was 39 when I was diagnosed and treated -- and that was 17 years ago.

As you are seeing with your friend, this is often the kind of disease that needs to be hit aggressively as soon as possible to try to head off further recurrences. If she's just starting radiation, she may not yet be experiencing too many side effects, but they can worsen as the treatments continue. She should have someone on her medical team that is actively monitoring her levels of nutrition and hydration.

Please feel free to come back here with your questions (and hers) and you'll find plenty of support and suggestions.

Cathy

AngelGirl1-
I hope you will introduce your friend to this site. It took me about 6 months after surgery to get up the nerve to do research on the computer and find this website. I sure could have made my life a lot easier, made better decisions on my treatment and discovered hints on how to survive those treatments if someone had pointed me here! Do a search of the archives and you'll find a treasure trove of info about stuff you didn't even know you should ask about. She's already a survivor and she's lucky to have a concerned friend like you. Welcome from a 4 year Stage IV survivor - Kris

Just wanted to say thank you for all your kind words. She will get out of the hospital today or tomorrow and I will be sure to give her the link to this site. As a mother of two adopted children, one with ADHD who steals etc, I know the importance of finding message boards of people who understand what you are going through! This board will be a gift to her!