finally joined after peeking in over last few months. oct 31st 08 i gave up smoking after 23 yrs , nov 30 a biopsy was taken and dec 12th given the news i had oral cancer and would need major surgery. surgery happened january 12th , thankfully without any complications . owing to severe under jaw odema swelling my radiation therapy was postponed 3 weeks and was discharged from ward after 31 days . i'm struggling with the thought of trying to swallow again and barely manage a few sips of coffee a week , even then i think i spit most of it back out as i have excess saliva now. also have the hacking up of mucusy blobs most days, sometimes 1 or 2 a day and sometimes very easy and other times eye wateringly hard to do