Hi, Two years ago I had cancer and surgery to remove it.I had a flap , bone taken from my leg to replace a piece of my jaw bone. That failed after 3 weeks. I wore a football helmet thing for a month after a month in the hospital to debreed (for infection). Then I had a bar put in to replace bone, and they used a piece of my shoulder to do this. This is the old fashioned way they use to do it. Well i have a minor infection which I have had for a year, this is in the bar. Now we are up to removeing the bar-putting new one in and taking tissue from my arm to kine my mouth and face with. Needless to say I'm frustrated. Also I've came very far, I eat almost any thing I want, re tought myself to do it differently.I walk every day, the bone removal has healed up very well and except for how I look , I live a normal life. I have a g-tube already but I just maintain it because if we get to new surgerys i'll need it .Anyone have any of these experiences? gnelson

My dad has had three rounds of oral cancer..he just had his third surgery in March. I know the bar you are talking about. He has one on now. He finished his radiation up two weeks ago, and went for a check up yesterday. It looks like around mid August he will have his bone graft done. The drs are going to use a rib. I hate to hear about all the problems you had with it.

About a week after my mother had surgery to remove part of tongue right mandible and floor of mouth she developed a canal. I guess that means there was a hole from her mouth that leaked outside. They had to pack her and put her on antibiotics for 2 weeks. That was in February 2002. That cleared up and the doctor says things have healed nicely. She is very frustrated with the eating thing and has kept the feeding tube in. She is still using 2 cans of ensure a day because she is trying to maintain her weight, but eating is a real chore and she doesn't enjoy it. She is 79 and lives alone and I must say she does quite well despite the problems this disease has caused her. Her speech is understandable but she has trouble with certain sounds and is concerned about her appearance, but has started to use the car again to go to the hairdresser and church. I guess those are 2 things that she will hold on to as long as she can.

Gnelson, Please don't get frustrated. This afternoon at 4:00 PM I'm going to the have the bone graft that was put in a little over two weeks ago taken out. It has been like having a really bad tooth ache for three weeks now. The whole point in this exercise was to try to replace my jaw bone to the point where I was able to get implants. Am I going to take a second shot at this? I'm not sure yet. Part of the procedure was a sucess and part wasn't. We didn't think about how the movement of my tongue would affect the jaw. Because my tongue is sewn to the bottom of my mouth, it just kept openning up the incision. I'll let you know what my decision is, but I'm probably going to go for it one more time.

Take care.

Anne.

Hi,Does anyone have a metal jaw replacement?I do am I the only one? I saw the x-ray on it, and it looks like an old chain link belt I use to have.I can move my jaw very well, to chew talk etc. I can be picked up on a metal detector.Feeling in my jaw good because nerve endings have grown back since its been almost two years since surgery.Of course there is a problem .I have to replace it because of an infection. We tried antibotics, in-out surgery to clean it up,PICC line with more antibotics but it still drains. Its my choice to have another bar put in ,not another bone.Anyone even know someone who has a bar like I do?gnelson