My meeting with my team of doctors is fixed for wednesday the 12th. Thereafter reconsutructive surgery is planned in order to mobilize the tongue, among other things. This is to aid better speech and subsequently ease of eating. Can anyone advice me as to what to expect and ask of the surgeons? What exactly does tongue mobilization entail? Will it restore speech as good as before or nearly as good?
Would be extremely grateful if anyone in the forum having undergone partial glosectomy of the tongue can throw some light on the same and what to ask of from the surgeons. I am both nervous and excited about the impending surgery! Thanks.

Many patients who undergo a partial glossectomy will follow up with a speech therapist or pathologist. They will be able to teach you how to speak clearer. I imagine having reconstructive surgery will be alot easier than having the partial glossectomy.

Best wishes with your surgery!

Hi Chandra,

I had half my tongue removed and reconstructed with my forearm.

As the new half has no muscle, the old half has to train it to work together.

My speech is 90% back to normal, and is improving every day.

I asked the surgeon about swelling, and the effects of radiation on the flap size, but other than that it is pretty individual. I got told to eat and talk as much as possible. I also sing for an hour every day as it forces some sounds quicker, and I have found my speech is getting better faster.

Good luck!

Hi there. Depending on the dr when they rebuild the tongue some drs for some reason attach it to the floor of the mouth - mine was reconstructed to look like a tongue and move like one as such my speech is almost normal. Ask how long it will take to heal etc. but you will find a great improvement after you heal. I think and hope.

Thanks Cheryld. I already had my glosectomy done during June 2010 which is now more than 2 years ago. Thereafter i had recurrence with nodal involvement and another surgery had to be done during June 2011 requiring RND. After that when i requested my doctors to also address the issue of tethered tongue effecting my speech and eating, they just asked me to wait and referred me to Speech Therapy. My doctors said that at that juncture they were only concerned about addressing the cancer and other issues were secondary! Also they had said that they wanted adequate healing time for the scarring, and an all clear scan after a year before they can address it. Now that it is more than a year and my scans have come clean, i have started pestering them to address this and they are examining releasing the tongue, dental implants and improving the ROM of the mouth.
Essentially,in my case it is more to set right the glossectomay done in 2010 and releasing the tongue which is attached to the floor of the mouth!

Good luck - you should be happy with the work! So glad you're doing good.

Chandra,

After my initial surgery my tongue was tethered to the floor of my mouth as well, which sounds odd as I didn't have tongue cancer, just a huge primary tumor that was very invasive. It really affected my speech to a point when talking to me you could barely understand what I was saying.

When I went in to have a CNVII to CNXII nerve graft to restore function to the paralyzed side of my face they also clipped the scar tissue that freed my tongue. My speech today is much improved, although I still have to work on it, I am able to get by, I just have to go slow and work on my enunciation. Where I'm no longer able to project my voice due to damage from the ND, I get by well enough, even public speaking to Speech Pathologists with JenSLP to educate SLP's on the effects of Oral Cancer from the perspective of the cancer patient.

Good luck and keep on keepin' on sister.

Eric

Chandra,

Your position sounds similar to where I was 3 � years ago. I�ve had many surgeries to improve speech and swallowing issues along with teeth implants. My speech and swallowing ability has improved, however it will never be like it was before cancer. Without a fully functioning mobile tongue + lower facial structural damage I will continue to have issues.

My rebuilt tongue flap isn�t mobile. I can�t lift it. I can�t poke it out or move it around freely. When diagnosed my cancer was located under my tongue and cancer had spread through the floor of my mouth to a neck lymph node. Surgeons removed the floor of my mouth and permanently stitched the replacement tongue flap to fill the crater in my mouth. My Plastic Surgeon has performed skin grafts and other procedures to extend and free up sections of my tongue flap.

For lots of reasons your Surgeon will be cautious and provide options to suit your history. They will take into consideration any nerve or radiotherapy damage your rebuilt tongue flap and surrounding soft tissue has. Our mouth cavity doesn�t heal well after radiotherapy, so there will be a lot of ifs and buts depending on your situation. Surgeons tend to take it slowly when doing reconstructive surgery. They do a bit, and then wait until everything heals and then do a bit more. It can be a long process for some of us but necessary to spread surgery out for healing purposes and also avoid making our issues worse.

Good luck at your medical appointment.

Karen

Thank you all for your valuable inputs. I just got back after meeting up and further evaluation with my plastic surgeon and the Onco surgeon. I have been asked to get ready for the surgery next week on the 19th. It is going to be a 6 hour surgery and from what i understand, they will address the following issues:
1. Freeing and mobilizing the tongue
2. Widening and bettering of the mouth opening
3. Address issues relating to Jaw stiffness

The doctor mentioned that they will prefer to do the lower teeth implants at a later date and not combine it with this surgery. However one small disappointment was the doctor was not very confident of achieving better lip sealing but did assure me that it will not matter much once the tongue is mobilized. Keeping my fingers crossed and praying for the best.
Chandra

Hello to All,

I have had almost the same procedures that most of you had and my last surgery was just this past Oct 24...a 12 hr with a mandibulectomy, fibula free flap,lower left and frontal teeth removed, a second partial glossectomy (part my tongue sown to flap),thigh graft, RND,PEG. I can relate to almost everything all of you have written in one way or another. I am starting a second time of radiation and am meeting the radiologist next week and also the speech therapist...what are key questions to ask them both? I have been strong all this time and I have bounced right back up and kept fighting and taking life by the horns, but this last surgery really really has beat me down...I am scared of so many things but reading all of you does soopeoth me and give me hope...This is my first post and I hope to learn more from you and maybe i can help somebody out there as well...god bless you all!

Carla