Hello. I'm new here. My husband has had cancer of the tongue (very back). He was very fortunate that he did not have to have a trach or any surgery to remove anything. He is in remission (2.5 years). He had much radiation treatment on right of jaw. His bone has deteriorated. He just underwent surgery where the surgeon ground the dead bone off. Now one week after surgery the surgeon says he must have the bone replaced with the tibia from his leg. What are the chances of this being a success and what do we have to look forward to?

Moo, welcome to OCF. You will find tons of info and support here.

Unfortunately no one here would be able to tell you what your husbands statistics are. We are not medical professionals and do not know your husbands complete medical history like his physicians. Try not to get hung up on numbers. Everyone is an individual. Ive seen (myself included) some patients with a very small chance of survival getting thru some pretty tough things while some who may appear to have an easy time of it struggling. Since your husband is being treated for after effects it should be easier for him than if he was battling cancer. But, operating on radiated tissue isnt easy and healing can be a problem.

I have some questions for you about your husbands procedures. Is he being treated at a major cancer center? Why did the doctor do a surgery to grind down the bone only to do another operation which is much more intricate? If your husbands condition showed osteoradionecrosis (dead jawbone from rads) and the doc was trying to fix it I would be concerned why it was done this way. Has he had a second opinion done prior to his surgery? Has anyone mentioned hyperbaric oxygen treatments (HBO)? Its where the patient goes into a glass tube to breathe pressurized pure oxygen. What tests were dont to determine surgery was necessary? Was he experiencing pain, is that how the problem with his jaw was found?

Sorry for the million questions! Just trying to get a better grasp on the situation so I can offer you some advice.

Hi Mookitty,

My dad had his jaw bone removed in January 2010. Make sure to get a second opinion because in my dad's case, they were going to replace it with the tibia but decided not to after advice from a cancer center doctor. Because of how much they had to remove, the doctors felt that replacing with the tibia would have restricted his range of motion too much. So each case is very different. My only point is that a second opinion can be both reassuring and helpful. As for what to expect, I can tell you that in my fathers case, it was a long recovery but he did recover. Hi jaw bone was broken because the cancer was in the bone. Also, he needed a skin graft so his surgery was very complicated. It took about 11 hours and 3 surgeons. He had a trach tube and a stomach feeding tube. Do you know if your husband will get either of those? I can share my stories as a caregiver if so. Either way, I think the hardest part was that he did swell quite a bit afterward and the swelling stayed for a couple of months, so that was stressful for me. But the doctors kept reassuring me that it would heal and it did. So I guess I am trying to address your question about what to look forward to. Right after surgery you may be surprised by swelling, etc, but just keep the faith that he will recover. You just need a lot of patience. Also, I remember an excellent video online somewhere that discussed the tibia replacement surgery and one of the patients who had it done was talking about his experience. I will try to find it. It was very comforting to watch.

Hello Moo,
Welcome to OCF, I am also new here. My mother-in-law had a partial mandible jaw removal surgery and reconstruction. Due to her age, they used titanium. Since she is only 2 days out of surgery, I have very limitted knowledge. The only thing I can give you is my prayers, thoughts and concern.

Stay strong,
Ina

Thank you StayinPositiveAng and Ina. The last talk from the dentist/surgeon was that the tibia would be used rather than titanium. He did not have cancer itself in his jawbone, it was ruined by radiation. He still haw some living bone, about half. We will wait and see what the plastic surgeon has to say in a week or so. I will keep you posted. Thanks again for your help.