Tanya,
Lots of us here can relate to you. The loss of what we had, a relatively carefree, healthy life, for the most part without fear, is difficult to confront. I am several months further removed than you are from treatment, and I can say I am thankful that I live in a time where we could have treatment for oral cancer, and great hope of a cure. It could be worse.
I am sure you had IMRT, which is definitely more host friendly. At 14 months outside of treatment, I have recently found that I have saliva that is close to normal--incredible!
There is hope for physical improvement over where you are now, just as wendys suggested.
Others can encourage you more eloquently with their prose than I can, but the crux of it is that there is nothing you or I can do about what happened, but we can move ahead. We can decide to once again participate in life in whatever ways open to us, or we can stand on the sidelines, lamenting our losses. Fear may lurk nearby, but we can refuse to let cancer related fear deprive us of what is ours to enjoy.
Best,
Anne
SCC tongue 9/2010, excised w/clear margins:8 X 4 mm, 1 mm deep
Neck Met, 10/2010, 1 cm lymph node; 12/21/'10: Neck Diss 30 nodes, 29 clear, micro ECE node, part tongue gloss, no residual scc
IMRT & 6 cisplatin 1/20/11-2/28/11 at MDA
GIST tumor sarcoma, removed 9/2011, no chemo needed
Clear on both counts as of Fall, 2021
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