Hi my name is Sally my brother has oral cancer
he recently went through chemo and radiation with rad neck dissection to follow. The cancer is back after only 9 months and Dr. says he needs to remove tounge voice box and give him a feeding tube. He is very scared and in need of support. He knows very little about this surgery and even less of what to expect from a feeding tube. I would like to hear from anyone out there who has been through this. Thank you.

Hi, Sally, Inded, your brother is going to face some hard going ahead. The feeding tube, if it is a PEG tube will not usually cause problems and is easy for most people to adjust to. You can do a search for pegs or tube feeding [look at the top of this page for the search button] and you will find more than you ever wanted to know about them. I can't speak to the rest of his treatment because my husband had a different protocol. Hope he is going to have a good support system. That will help him rebound faster. Amy

Sally,

I am sorry to hear that your brother is having to go threw so much! I was one of the care givers for my Mom and her cancer came back three times so I know how your family must be feeling. My Mom did get a peg tube put in right away before she even started treatment. She didn't have a lot of weight to loss so they didn't want to take any chances. The peg tube procedure itself wasn't too bad. We all got pretty use to helping her with her feedings and giving her all of her medication in it. She didn't eat by mouth for over a year and a half so it did help!

I wish your brother and your family the best of luck. He will certainly need your help and support.

This site was a wonderful way for me to find help and just talk to other people going threw it.

Thoughts & Prayers
Debbie

Sally,

Sorry to hear about the return of cancer for your brother.
You say he knows very little about what he will be going through. He needs to talk with his Dr. and ask all the questions he needs to know about it. I am sure it will help him to reduce the anxiety of it. We all were scared when we first went into this. So he is not alone.

Keep us posted. Ask questions, I am sure someone here has went through the same thing or something like it. Use the search to help you find more information.

Take care,
Diane

Hi Sally,

I am sorry to hear that your brother is going through all this. Where is your brither being treated and has he gotten a second opinion? He should seek treatment at one of the Comprehensive Cancer Centers, especially for surgery that drastic.

I am a total laryngectomee but had no tongue involvement. Is that the surgery he is having? I have a permanent trach and voice prosthesis which allows me to speak. If he has any questions, have him email me (Click on second icon at top).

Take care,
Eileen

Sally
So sorry to hear about your brother, the night before my surgery, thats what they said would happen to me, in my case after they got in there they found the tumor on my tongue was small so they save the tongue. I did talked to 2 people that had the same surgery before I had mine, one lost his tongue, 5 years ago, he is 72 years old, and is doing very well, The food tube is not bad, getting use to no slyiva glands, at first was hard, you get use to having the water bottle around, taste buds, its all hard to except.
I got a second opinion at Rochester Mayo, I felt good about going into it with someone that did this surgery, every week. I learned from my 72 year old freind that attidue is every thing, he works every day, still goes on fishing trips.
It is a rapid life style change, that was the hardest thing for me, to get use to living a different way, but we are living.
Good luck

Thank you everyone for your support for my brother. I have printed your letters out so he can read them. It helps to know there are others dealing with this dreadful disease.


Sally