My mom was diagnosed with mouth cancer 3 years and 1 month ago. My father was just diagnosed with esophogeal cancer and my mom's story gives me hope for him and I hope for those of you here who are fighting oral cancer or have loved ones who are fighting.

In August of 2006, my mom noticed a growth in her mouth floor between her teeth and her tongue and also a lump in her neck. Looking back, I should have been very worried but as she had a fair amount of health problems in the year prior, this seemed like another infection the doc would give an antibiotic for. (She'd had 2 blood infections, an eye infection and an ear infection plus been diagnosed with depression... we know now that this was probably related to the cancer.)

She saw her doc who referred her to a specialist to "rule out mouth cancer". When she told me that, we both knew what the result of the biopsy would be and I immediately went online to become a mouth cancer expert. My mom was 58 years old and had quit smoking at 50 after being a fairly heavy smoker for over 30 years. What I read about was mostly scary but survival stories gave me some hope. My mom took it one day at a time and was extremely strong.

In mid-October, she had her surgery. It was a 7 hour procedure and they removed the tumor, the floor of her mouth, 5 teeth, part of her tongue and part of her jawbone plus all of the lymph nodes in her neck. Recovery was about 2 weeks in the hospital, learning to talk and eat again. Her tongue was very swollen and less mobile where it had been re-attached to her mouth. Within a couple of days she was talking again and then determined to start swallowing she progressed from water to liquids to pureed food.

By Christmas, she was able to have the family over to celebrate.

In late January, she began treatment of radiation 5 days per week for 7 weeks with a dose of chemo at the beginning, middle and end (the last one was if she could handle it).

She was ok for the first 2 or 3 weeks and then started really feeling the side-effects of the radiation. She had a very sore neck and throat, trouble eating and talking and started to lose her saliva and taste.

Mid-way through her radiation treatments, they insisted that she have a g-tube put in. She very stubbornly never used it and did not lose any significant weight. I am so proud of how strong she was!

By the end, she was very tired and sore and they did not give her the last dose of chemo. It was a relief when radiation treatments ended but the pain took weeks to ease and eating remained a challenge.

In the following months she adjusted to new eating habits, lost a little weight (which was ok with her) and ended up going off her blood pressure medication because with limited taste there was no need to salt her food. I would say she is healthier now than before.

It is 3 years later and if you saw her, you would not immediately see anything wrong with her. The scar on her neck is very hard to see and with a partial denture, her mouth looks fine. Her speech sounds fine to me although she complains that sometimes she is hard to understand on the phone. A lot of her taste has come back along with some of her saliva. She can pretty much eat anything she wants mostly she just has to look out for seeds and such.

3 years and cancer free... she is a survivor. I'm so grateful that she is here to see her grandkids grow up and to still be my mom.

Hi, West Coast!

Thanks so much for your Mom's story. I love it when people return to tell success stories - too often they go on with life (as they should) and forget to let us know about their positive outcomes. These stories give the rest of us hope, particularly to the newcomers who are overwhelmed by this cruel diagnosis and course of treatment. I certainly was. Thanks to you and everyone else who comes back to add to this forum.

Your Mom is an inspiration, stubborn, a fighter, maybe a pain-in-the-ass type patient but a successful one. Now you get to do it all over again with your Dad. Remember that every one of us is different and if your Dad doesn't respond the way your Mom did, it's because he's an individual with a whole different make up. I've seen people with other cancers compared to one another and it's ugly. Don't let that happen.

Thanks again. Be sure to let us know how your Dad is doing. Take care of yourself.

Mimi

PS: I'm assuming that you're in BC. That's where my Dad's side of the family is from and I think your West Coast is one of the most beautiful coastlines on earth and your people the kindest.

Hi West Coast, Such nice story with a wonderful ending gives people hope when we read of the things that can be done and what people go through and stillcome up smiling.
Thanks


Paul

Hi Westcoast

Thank you for your Mum's story.. I think know I would love your family.