Have A Question About My Grandmother's Cancer

Hi all..My name is Lori. I am posting in question about my grandmother. She was diagnosed in Aug 03 with a later stage squamos cell carcinoma in the roof of her mouth. It was under her dentures..she never takes them out except to brush them...anyway by the time they found it it was already in her neck and wrapped around a main artery going to her brain. Surgery was not an option but she did do a course of radiation. In the past few months she has begun to go downhill. She has all but lost her voice now...It is only a whisper. She refuses to go back to her doctor so we really have no way of knowing what is going on. (if you've made it this far I am almost to my question part...) We got her some Tylenol PM to help w/the pain and to help her rest...She took it one night and the next morning she said that the medicine had "broke her out". I have never seen anyone react to medication this way..Her skin is very sensitive so it is possible I guess but here's what it is...her arm, chest, and back are covered in this black blistery looking stuff. My fear of course is that the cancer has spread to her skin now. I know she will die from this...the dr told us privately that she would bc it was so far gone. We are lucky to have had her the 2 years that we have since the diagnosis..I'm just trying to find out about the skin thing.

Thanks in advance..

Good wishes to all of your dealing w/cancer...IT SUCKS!!!!!!!!!

I hear that one...it does suck!

Hi Nanas Girl,

Hopefully you have been able to get her to the doctors by now and probably the blisters have cleared up by not, but just in case, here is a possibility. Has she taken Tylonal before? If yes has she taken that strength before? It is suppose to be one of the safest pain killers, but for me that is not true. I am allergic to it. My reaction is much more serious, but if she is very elderly, it could have tiny ruptures in some blood vessels. That would account for the black appearance and the tiny blisters.

I don't have the exact same type of cancer as your grandmother, I do have adenocarcinoma of the minor salivary gland that was located in the hard palate in the roof of my mouth. I have lived with it for 9 years. While the survival rate is only 54% after 15 years out from diagnosis, those odds are much better than when I was first diagnosed.

Please try and get her back to the doctor. While they can not cure her, there are things that can help prolong her life. Another thing that may sound silly to you is her attitude. They have proven with various studies that terminal cancer patients with a positive attitude tend to servive 2 years longer than those who don't. While I have recently undergone surgery for a recurrance of the cancer which cuts my survival rate down to around 25%, I am determined to make it at least another 10 years to my 65th birthday :) By then they should come up with something new that will help me make it to 75 :)

Anyway, I hope you and your grandmother are doing well and wish you all the best.