My husband had hemiglossectomy and neck dissection 2 days ago. He is doing really well, and in spite of the sutures and mesh on the graft site his speech is remarkedly good. The plan is to go home with an NG tube until mesh on tongue and big holding suture come out next week and he transists to oral feeding. I am worried about our bed. Do any of you have any good short term solutions to elevating the head of a queen size bed ENOUGH. I can't see him sleep on in a recliner all the time. We are anxiously waiting pathology results, but frozen section from OR showed negative margins.

On his side of the bed, you could put bricks or something large between the mattress and box springs. Also prop him up on at least 3 pillows.

Many of us have slept on recliners when we went thru this. Its only temporary. Most important is getting him comfy enough so he can sleep.

Good luck!



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Hi Kate. My procedure was quite different, but they still recommended sleeping at a 30 degree angle or so. The solution that worked for me was to get one of those study pillows that we used to use in college - the ones with stubby little arms on the side to rest your elbows on. Using 3 firm pillows I could build a nicely sloped ramp using that as a back-base to keep me comfortable. May be this would also work for your husbaand?

I should also tell you that on returning home I really didn't feel like sharing a bed for a while - despite Deb's and my 38 years of happy side-by-side. The jostling in either direction just felt like it would be too disturbing. Plus waking up every couple of hours for pain med would be a drag on her energy. So I slept on the couch (insert bad marriage joke here) for about ten days before moving back to the bedroom.

Good luck with your challenge. I can tell you from watching Deb that it takes a lot of energy, but that your husband will be really grateful for your help and support.

You were right about recliner and couch. Today we go in for removal of staples and tongue bolster. He can't wait to get that stinky thing out. Im afraid it's going to be painful for him. If he "passes" swallow test then NG comes out. I think of today as the official end of his surgical phase.

I had to sleep with a wedge pillow because flat on my back, I stop breathing.

I have one of those electrical incline bed's, and couldn't do without it. There are so many brands available these days.

Good luck.