I have had that surgery, Trinity. It's a big one. Works well though with the flap reconstruction giving the tongue shape and volume. The rest of the tongue moves it so speech and eating are not much of a problem. The first 7 days are pretty awful with the trach, and tubes everywhere, arm in a cast, but after Day 8 things pick up. The trach comes out, NG tube comes out, and normal life can slowly resume.

I've also had 2 or 3 primaries. It's debatable whether the first 2 were the same cancer or not because the first surgery didn't get clear margins and the 2nd cancer grew in the scar tissue. The 3rd cancer was definitely a new primary.

It's very very hard to get these three cancers so close together as well as all the side effects. Christine will advise extra care with nutrition to make sure Chris is in the best state possible to have the surgery.