Dear all

I was diagnosed with tip on tongue cancer, underneath and on the left hand side and had surgery on the 14th November. My surgeon took out a big chunk but found that the biopsy had got all of it and lots of healthy tissue was removed, however he wanted to be safe than sorry. I have not had a neck dissection as the tumour was so small (3mm by 4mm) he said it was protocol not to do the invasive neck surgery for such a small tumour.

I am really very grateful that it�s been caught early but I feel like the whole cancer thing has just hit me like a truck and it�s sinking in now, I�m having awful nightmares. It�s now just a month after surgery and I have a lisp that upsets me as I�m a Counsellor/Psychotherapist who was attending interviews for jobs up until this happened. I get so scared when I speak to strangers and can�t ever imagine being given a job speaking like this, especially as the jobs I�m qualified for involves advocacy, public speaking and campaigning.

I�m being referred to a speech therapist and a clinical psychologist by my amazing Macmillan nurse (UK special cancer nurse) so I really hope they can both help.

I really don�t want to fall into the victim trap when I�ve been so lucky and others aren�t but I feel so awful. Can anyone give me any hope for my lisp to improve due to a shorter tongue and less of a tongue down the left hand side, and also if any feeling will come back in my tongue? � the doc won�t say either way if the nerves will regenerate or my speech will ever be the same, humph!

Thank you, Kate