Hello Everyone!! My sister Just got home today from her surgery(7 Days later) Hemiglossectomy with all nodes removed on right side of neck. Her tongue is still swollen a decent amount. She is having a difficult time eating and is talking but not to perfect. I was just trying to get an idea from people who had the same surgery on what their recovery was as far as eating and talking. She has been pretty depressed about the whole thing to be honest. I know from reading on here that all this is normal. She is currently on clear liquids until Saterday and them moes up to like ensure ans stuff like that. She has a follow with her Dr and speech therapist next Thursday. Also they changed her bandage from her forearm free flap but it is still currently covered. I was amazed when they took that bandage off! She didn't look of course. How long does it take for that to heal around and does that look like a shark bite or does the graft cover it nicely? This surgery is truely an amazing thing but it has been very hard on her. I am starting to realize how difficult this type of cancer is not only with having to deal with the treatment but it is different in the way that to the patient they feel disfigured!Thanks for any info!!!

It's quite horrific surgery - I had something very similar and was in hospital for over two weeks so her recovery sounds good to me. The wrist does look gory for a while and mine after 7 months still looks red and uneven. It has caused me little trouble, however, and I am used to it - no-one seems to notice it so I don't regard it as a disfigurement:)It probably took about a month to heal up completely.
It will take your sister a few months to recover fully - I'm 63 and I've bounced back quite nicely. Speech and swallowing returned to near normal gradually and I feel pretty lucky that the cancer was removed and the missing tongue replaced. I don't want to minimise the trauma that this condition causes but this treatment is of great benefit and the flap and wrist eventually settle down nicely. It's great to get the trach out!
Best wishes - you are not alone.

Susan,

Your sister and I had very different surgeries...but I can relate to disfigurement. When I had my Right Mandiblectomy with Fibular Free flap and Neck Dissection done, my right facial nerve was damaged paralyzing the right side of my face, horribly disfiguring me.

I've always been a very vain person, caught up in my looks...what can I say, I was all kinds of good looking! The emotional toll it put on me was really intense. I was used to walking into a room, dressed to kill and getting looks because I knew I looked good. Now I walk into a room and get stared at because half of my face is gone. It took me a while to understand that there was more to me then what I looked like.

Now I really could care less about the stares or that my face is paralyzed...I'm just very glad to be alive and am enjoying the time that I have, but it took me a while to get there. She needs to take it one step at a time and have people around her to let her know that no matter what she looks like, she still the person her friends and family love.

Hope that helps,

Eric

Eric, you really summed up my feelings, too although I haven't been brave enough to post them.
I am a mess after 3 oral cancer surgeries and they are not done yet (I hope)because my surgeon found some more papillomas in my throat and he tested them, they were not HPV but did have cancer cells so I am waiting on next step. Your post is exactly how I was thinking with the looks gone, etc.....now I am hoping once again, to live. Take Care

Carol, are you ok?

Thank you so much for your info. You guys are all right on your additude and I pray everyday that my sister will have that additude. I would assume that right now it is overwhelming to her. To me she is healing very well wand very quickly. Her swelling went down about half on her tongue. Her neck is almost completly down except for the " turkey neck" that I have seen people post about. Her thigh is completly scabbed up. Her arm looks like it still has a lot of healing to go. She had a scare yesterday with her tongue and went to her CCC to get it checked out. It looked alittle white to us and it keeps swelling and then going down. Dr said all this is normal. I know that Thursday is going to be a hard day since she is going back for follow up and I know she is going to be told she needs radiation eventually. That's going to upset her too. Between the healing process, having to accept what she has and what was done, then to have radiation is going to be very difficult for her because she hasn't complety accepting anything. I hope in due time she will come to terms on what is going on and accept it and eventually come on this forum since it has helped me so much. I have so many more questions about her recovery but I guess taking it day by day is sooo much better.
Eric you sond like an amazing person so full of life no matter what comes your way. I can only pray that my sister's additude becomes like yours.
Alpaca. Thanks so much for your info. It gives me confidence that she is healing well and will be ok. Glad to see that u are recovery so well from this surgery.
Thanks so much guys for the support.