Hi everyone A lot has happened since she was diagnosed and the outlook has lightened considerably. Firstly, after a biopsy it was discovered to be a "non malignant" but very rare jaw bone cancer. To cut a long story short the treatment was to remove the bottom right jaw bone and all the teeth on it and then graft a new jaw bone, harvested from her hip. Lissa has been going to Guy's twice a week for scans to her jaw and hip and also cosmetic photography and jaw impressions etc. Three weeks ago the Professor told her that they would have to put her operation back a fortnight. A few days later she went back to have her hip scanned and she again saw the Professor, who rather dropped a bombshell on her. He told her that he didn't want to do the original operation on her at this time, apparently he was concerned that she was so young and obviously pretty and with a young family. He was concerned that there was a very real possibility of her ending up with a disfigurement and/or facial immobility as a result of the surgery. He was also concerned that as she was so slight in stature there would not be enough bone density in her hip to accomplish the graft and if he went too deep it could produce problems in getting the graft to actually knit and also for the regeneration of the bone in her hip. The upshot of all this is that he intends to open the gum and remove the two teeth immediately above the tumour and "scoop out" (his words) the tumour. He would then "grind away any remaining evidence" of it on her jaw bone and then treat this cavity with acid to kill off any remaining cancer cells. He would then close her gum and "let the body do its work", and then regularly monitor her situation in the months to come. He has asked her to be a "Guinea Pig" for whilst he has recently successfully done the same operation on a 14-year-old boy, the boy had had a different kind of tumour and to that end the Professor couldn't be sure how her tumour would react to the treatment. His opinion was that, as it had until now been very slow growing it would hopefully allow them some years before the more invasive treatment was necessary . . . and if completely successful . . . then not at all. Lissa has nothing to lose, as after a couple of days she should be back to "normal". Sorry to go into so much detail, but whenever I've told people simply that she had a benign cancer and that she was going to be alright, they got in touch and wanted the full story anyway . . . so you have the "unabridged version". She is scheduled to have this revised procedure on 24th September . . . FINGERS CROSSED!!!! Will definitely keep you updated on Lissa and our new departure date Maureen and Keith