pancoast tumor

My 60 year old mother had a pancoast tumor removed in June 06 (which was found as a result of xray when she was admitted to hospital with pneumonia in May 06).  She has since had both chemo and radiation and told us she was clear in February 07.  About April 07 she began to complain of shoulder and arm pain which got progressively worse.  She has also shown some signs of horners syndrome (but not all the time) and she is now sweating almost constantly from one side of her head.  
As she has been very limited with information throughout this whole process I am concerned that she is not telling us the entire truth.  
She is on very strong narcotic pain relief, and is also suffering from extreme fatigue and always uses a wheel chair if needing to walk any distances.
She has also recently (last month) started to have several memory lapses and has fallen from weak muscles at least 3 times.
Could the shoulder/arm pain and horners syndrom (syndrome) that she had developed almost 12 months after the surgery be as a result of the surgery or does this mean the tumor has returned?  
Hoping you can help shine some light on the subject for us.
I know doctors can't give time frames for cancers but we would like to be given some direction.  I'm sorry that I don't have more information to give you - I don't even know what stage the cancer was at the beginning.
Thanks

[bhumi123]

Hi,
Did your mother take chemotherapy or radiotherapy post surgery ? That needs to be known because pancoast's tumour is usually managed with post operative chemo or radiotherapy. Also permanent neurologic deficits are rare and are not incapacitating. Horner syndrome may occur from resection of the stellate ganglion and the root of C8. Deficits are usually temporary, lasting a few months. You should discuss in detail with your physician as to the possibilties in this case and what needs to be done next. Talk to your mother in detail about it too. Goodluck.

[cjdaw]

Thanks for the information.  She had the chemotherapy and radiotherapy post surgery (I don't believe it was identified as a pancoast tumor before it was removed - not sure why).  I do know that her oncologist has arranged for her to have a test to see if there is any cancer cell activity so I guess we will know more when we have the results from that.

[DrBhumikaMD]

Hi,
Do let us know the result of the tests and what did your physician have to say. Goodluck!