In July 2017, I was diagnosed with Stage 1 SCC of the left lateral tongue and had a partial glossectomy on Aug. 30. Though the tumor was removed with clean margins, because of its depth the surgeon recommended a selective neck dissection to remove and biopsy several lymph nodes. That operation was done Sept. 20. The nodes were negative for cancer. But I'm still dealing with the side effects of having two surgeries three weeks apart, and not knowing which problems will eventually get better and which ones will be permanent.
The incision begins under my chin and runs to behind my left ear. The scar tissue is very thick and pulls against the skin of my neck. It prevents me from tilting my head back (can't put drops in my eyes unless I lie down on the bed!), and when I swallow, it feels like I'm being strangled on the left side of my throat. The swelling on the left side of my face prevents me from opening my mouth wide, and I still can't chew on the left side (have been subsisting mainly on ice cream for six weeks.)
Is this a typical pace of recovery? How long should I expect it to take before things are at least semi-normal?
Also, there are two issues that concern me. For a year before I was diagnosed, I had a painful, non-healing ulcer on my tongue. Now, after having all the cancer supposedly removed, I still have a painful lesion on my tongue that sometimes bleeds. I mentioned this to the surgeon when I went to get my neck stitches removed on Sept. 28, and he said the tongue sore was "just part of the healing process." But the pain is getting worse. Is this normal?
The other thing is: When I had the glossectomy on Aug. 30, I was discharged from the hospital just a couple hours after coming out of anesthesia. I live by myself, so I was all alone. There was so much swelling in my tongue that it was difficult to swallow, so I wasn't able to drink much. By the following evening, I was very dehydrated, and I lost consciousness and passed out on the floor, which caused one of my front teeth to bite very deeply into my lower lip. It was a bloody mess -- and it never completely healed. It will seem to get better, and then a hard, swollen lesion will reappear. Has anyone else ever had a busted lip that persisted for six weeks? I know the wound was caused by my fainting accident, but still -- having just been treated for SCC of the tongue, it's hard not to be a little nervous about lip cancer.
Am I just expecting too much progress, too soon? Any advice would be appreciated. (P.S. My next follow-up with the surgeon isn't scheduled until Nov. 30.)