{"id":351024,"date":"2026-06-26T04:34:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T04:34:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/351024\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T04:34:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T04:34:22","slug":"stage-4-oral-cancer-survivor-grateful-after-successful-treatment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/351024\/","title":{"rendered":"Stage 4 oral cancer survivor grateful after successful treatment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Vicente Valero<\/a>, a breast medical oncologist at UT MD Anderson, kept my\u202flate\u202fmother alive for 25 years \u2014 even after a stage 4<\/a> metastatic<\/a> breast cancer diagnosis<\/a>. Urologists there also treated my late father successfully for prostate cancer<\/a>.\u202f\u202f<\/p>\n

So, when a biopsy<\/a> revealed the source of an ongoing issue in my\u202fmouth\u202fmight be\u202fsquamous cell carcinoma<\/a> \u2014 a type of oral cancer<\/a>\u202f\u2014\u202fI\u202fdidn\u2019t\u202fhesitate:\u202fI called\u202fUT\u202fMD Anderson right away.<\/p>\n

My stage 4 oral cancer diagnosis\u202f\u202f<\/p>\n

By the time I had my first consultation at UT MD Anderson, three Austin dentists, two periodontists and an oral surgeon had all overlooked my oral cancer. Not even Dr. Neil Gross<\/a>, a\u202fwell-respected\u202fhead and neck surgeon at UT MD Anderson, was convinced of the primary site of the cancer until my first exploratory surgery<\/a>.\u202f\u202f<\/p>\n

But cancer is\u202fexactly what the swollen lymph node<\/a> beneath my chin turned out\u202fto be.\u202f\u202f<\/p>\n

The cancer started in a non-healing tooth socket. My gums never really healed properly after a tooth extraction in 2017. By the time I was diagnosed with oral cancer a few years later, it had grown deep into my jawbone. That made it\u202fstage 4.<\/p>\n

My stage 4 oral cancer treatment\u202f<\/p>\n

Nobody ever wants to hear they have cancer<\/a> \u2014 least of all stage 4. But after watching my mother live with it\u202ffor 25 years, I knew it didn\u2019t have to be the worst thing that ever happened to me. I trust UT MD Anderson. And, my sister reminded me that I knew how to do this. So, I took a\u202fdeep breath<\/a>\u202fand got on with it.\u202f<\/p>\n

To treat the cancer, Dr. Gross\u202frecommended surgery followed by chemoradiation<\/a>. He\u2019d\u202fremove the diseased bone, the swollen lymph node and some others nearby to test them for cancer<\/a>. Then, plastic surgeon Dr. Mark Villa<\/a> would use a part of my leg bone to reconstruct my jaw. Finally, I\u2019d receive six weeks of chemoradiation under the joint supervision of radiation oncologist\u202fDr. David Rosenthal<\/a> and medical oncologist Dr. Maura Gillison<\/a>.\u202f<\/p>\n

That sounded good\u202fto me. I had the surgery at UT MD Anderson on March 27, 2023, and stayed in the hospital for 10 days. I remained on a feeding tube<\/a> for about three weeks and started chemoradiation after recovering at home for a bit longer. I finished all that up in early June 2023.<\/p>\n

Karen Frost holds up a picture of herself during treatment a year after surgery <\/p>\n

My\u00a0UT MD Anderson\u00a0gratitude list\u202f<\/p>\n

Most patients in my situation need at least one additional surgery to improve\u00a0their appearance<\/a>\u00a0and the function of a\u00a0bone graft<\/a>. But Dr. Villa said I was healing so well, he didn\u2019t want to do anything to risk an infection. Instead, he suggested\u00a0a dental prosthesis<\/a>, a less invasive option that I hadn\u2019t even considered.\u202f\u202f<\/p>\n

I\u2019m really grateful now that\u202fhe\u202fdid. Something more permanent might not have worked\u202fout\u202fas well and could have caused additional problems down the road.\u202f\u202f<\/p>\n

I\u2019m also very grateful to Dr. Gross. He did such a\u202fwonderful job of removing the cancer during the 10-and-a-half-hour surgery that I\u2019ve decided to name\u202fmy next dog \u201cGrossie\u201d in his honor.<\/p>\n

Dr. Mark Chambers<\/a>, my oral oncologist, was very meticulous in fitting my prosthesis. And dental hygienist,\u00a0Donna DeVries<\/a>, has ruined me for all others. Any teeth cleaning that is not hers simply pales by comparison.<\/p>\n

What I\u2019m most grateful for now\u202f<\/p>\n

But I\u2019m probably most\u202fgrateful\u202ffor the fact that I\u2019ve shown\u00a0no evidence of disease<\/a>\u202fsince December 2023. I only need checkups now every six months, though after my next one this month, I\u2019ll graduate to once a year.<\/p>\n

I do still need help periodically with\u202flymphedema<\/a>, though. That\u2019s\u202fwhy I was excited to learn that\u202fUT\u202fMD Anderson will begin providing care in Austin<\/a>\u00a0in a few years at UT Dell Medical Center.\u202f<\/p>\n

Going to Houston for my treatment or follow-ups has never been a sacrifice. I grew up\u202fin that\u202fcity, and my grandkids live there now. Austin is only about three hours away. But just knowing that UT MD Anderson will soon provide care right around the corner from me is\u202fthrilling. Austin really needs this.\u00a0It will improve the\u00a0caliber of cancer care<\/a>\u00a0available here dramatically.<\/p>\n

Request an appointment at\u202fUT\u202fMD Anderson online\u202for call 1-877-632-6789<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dr. Vicente Valero, a breast medical oncologist at UT MD Anderson, kept my\u202flate\u202fmother alive for 25 years \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351025,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[21940,583,1145,1142,95553,56,58,57,95555,75671,1148,62068,2822],"class_list":["post-351024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-austin-location","tag-breast-cancer","tag-caregivers","tag-family-friends","tag-head-and-neck","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-oral-cancer","tag-patient-caregiver-stories","tag-patients","tag-prostate-cancer","tag-survivors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}