I am the daughter of an oral cancer patient. 1st we had squamous cell in his jaw. Radiation treatments were amazing terrible and the side effects are long lasting. Then just weeks later the squamous cell reappeared in his lower gum. This time a surgery that removed part of his lower jaw and 7 teeth. Due to the past radiation dad lost all his salivary glands and several more teeth. Had a little over a year to recover. Now its returned to his tongue and multiple tumors needing to be removed. Hes having difficulty swallowing/eating/talking. And he is in a great deal of pain.
Surgery to remove a good part of the tongue on the 23rd of Sept. Meeting with the medical team on the 13th.
Any advice for me and mom? We are the primary caregivers with some help from kids and grandkids.The trach and the feeding tube -how long do they stay? Anyone have any advice on the food prep for dad once he learns to swallow again?
Trying to set up relief for mom during the hospital stay besides me.Do we need a rehab center once dad gets out of the hospital? He wants to come home... any advice is welcome.

Hi. Welcome to OCF. Glad you found us. I can only offer advice from my sisters perspective. She had her hemi glossectomy in June. The first few days are not going to be pretty. The tongue swells and that is why they need to put in a trach and Feeding tube. My sisters was taken out in 6 days. Most keep the feeding tube longer then that. We stayed with my sister 24/7 during her stay because she was t able to communicate to well. She came home in 8 days I believe. After she was released she went weekly to the speech and swallow therapist and still goes to physical therapy twice a week. Hopefully someone else will write about feeding tube meals. I am not familiar with it since my sister refuses it during radiation. Good luck to you and keep us posted.

I had a hemiglossectomy on april 13th. My trach stayed in for 3 weeks. I had a NG (nasal tube) in for 4 weeks and then they removed it and had to put it back in a week later due to a infection, but then pulled it two weeks later.
During radiation 4 weeks in I had to have a Peg tube (gastrostomy= stomach tube) put in and that stayed in for a month for me. The sores from radiation get to be pretty bad and hard to swallow anything.
I didn't need a rehab facility because my brother, mother and boyfriend helped me out after surgery and through radiation. There will be trach cares and feeding tube stuff, but they will teach you how to do all that before he leaves and make sure you feel comfortable with it.
As for the feedings. While he has a feeding tube in they will probably setup with a medical supply company to send out liquid for feeding through the tube, usually about 6 cans a day. Once he feels more like eating, start with applesauce, mashed potatoes that have a bit more liquid so they are thinner, and soups. Pureed food works well too but it has to be to like a applesauce consistency at first. One tip, meat doesn't work too well in a food processor, so probably no meat on pureed diet, for me even very small bits of ground beef were too difficult to start with.
He will probably be set up with a speech therapist that will help your family and him determine when he will be ready to switch diets, and what the diet should be.
Any other questions just ask away. I had the hemiglossectomy, neck dissection(right side), and free-flap transplant. Also 30 rounds of radiation.
Wish your family and your father luck with this battle, it won't be easy, but your family being there for him should make it better for him, i know it did for me.