Hi- My name is Amanda and I feel some what out of my comfort zone joining the chat room. For the past few months I have been reading sites, looking for more information, trying to get a better understanding of this debilitating, horible disease. After reading some of the entries I decided it may be ok and I might find some of the things I am loooking for even though I may not know what they are yet.

My mom is 77 years old and was diagnosed with Squamous Cell cancer of the soft pallet 2 years ago. We went through the sugery and she and her Dr made the decission not to have radiation. 10 months later her cancer has returned and the Dr removed most of her top jaw bone of the right side of her face. I don't recall the medical name of the procedure. This time she had 8 weeks of radiation. 1 month after radiation there is a know on her lower jaw. This is the 3rd time the cancer is back. I can get in to all the things that happened along the way and time lines if intersted. This past Thursday she had a radical neck disection, removal of the right bottom jaw ( the tumor had actually broken her jaw and it was necrotic by the time we went to surgery). The ENT Dr did the tumor removal and removal of the jaw bone. The Plastic's Dr. did a pectoral flap reconstruction with a skin graft. At the end of the 4 1/4 hr procedure she is in good shape with 3 drain tubes, a feeding tube and over 200 stiches and staples. Today we had another surgery becuase the graft didn't take ( i can tell the details as to why if interested) and they have removed the entire graft- she has an open wound with a presure bandage- and will be in the hsopital for the next 10-12 days. They are going to try a 2nd graft next Tuesday.

Does all this seem correct? Or has my mom just had everything that could go wrong go wrong. It just doesn't seem that 1 person @ 85 pounds can take much more.

There are circumstances to her treatment from not having the right DR to start with, time line for treatments, etc. She is now at MCV - Medical College of VA and seems to be in the right place- maybe just too late.

Sorry for being so long winded my firs time- It has been a very long time getting here.

Any information, comments, suggestions are welcomed.

A

Hello Amanda

The decision not to have radiotherapy for a cancer in the soft palate would only have been offered as an option when the surgery was thought to have removed all of the cancer cells. Avoiding radiotherapy is such a case could appear sensible in view of the complications radiotherapy can cause. A recurrence could have occurred even with radiotherapy. So, don't blame the recurrence on the decision.

Your mum has been through a lot, so focus now on getting through the recent surgery. Things will get better as the weeks pass and both of you will feel better.

Best wishes
Vinod