 Patient Advocate (1000+ posts)
Joined: Nov 2005 Posts: 1,128 | You got a lot of good answers -- I would personally be inclined to hang the side effects and go for as much as possible -- That may happen anyway once they open you up and see what is there.
BTW, all, be careful about "how much tongue" questions and answers because the tongue has so many parts -- One person may have the mobile (in the mouth, up front) part of the tongue in mind and the other may be thinking of the entire tongue including the large BOT vertical muscle portion in the throat. When a doc says "half", he/she might be referring to the entire tongue or just the mobile portion.
I'd be quite surprised if there isn't going to be a trach involved in all this because of all the trauma and swelling.
Age 67 1/2
Ventral Tongue SCC T2N0M0G1 10/05
Anterior Tongue SCC T2N0M0G2 6/08
Base of Tongue SCC T2N0M0G2 12/08
Three partial glossectomy (10/05,11/05,6/08), PEG, 37 XRT 66.6 Gy 1/06
Neck dissection, trach, PEG & forearm free flap (6/08)
Total glossectomy, trach, PEG & thigh free flap (12/08)
On August 21, 2010 at 9:20 am, Pete went off to play with the ratties in the sky.
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