Hello everyone,

I have been looking around this site since I finished my 33 Radiation treatments with 3 major Chemo sessions, 6 weeks ago. It's been helpful to know I'm not alone and get some reassurance that the symptoms / side effects I'm having are common.

My story begins with a small blemish on the floor of my mouth, 7 years ago. My dentist found it. He referred me to a maxillofacial surgeon who cut the entire thing out with a quick swipe of a scalpel, then sent it for biopsy. (Only suspected to be Cancer), he told me to quit smoking and drinking beer. Or it would come back!, I didn't and it did.

5 years it lay dormant, then my dentist said "better get it looked at again". I ended up having the entire floor of my mouth removed at Sunnybrook Cancer hospital in Toronto, Canada.

The surgeons were brutal, knocking out teeth and slicing out all the lymph nodes from my neck. Cutting a big swatch from the underside of my left forearm, a piece of vein was removed for use in my mouth. The flesh acted as skin graph to re-upholstered the floor of my mouth. My shortened tongue was re-attached onto it. Then, twisting the skin together on my forearm, they managed to stitch that wound closed. (I have only minor numbness when I grip things with my left hand).

That was back in April 2009, over a year ago. The major swelling of my neck, and lower jaw took a few months to receed as I underwent physio-therapy to regain my neck muscles. I had quit smoking the day of my operation, but I continued to drink until August.

By early October, I had just been fitted with a new lower denture plate. Having trouble getting it to fit comfortably, by November I ended up with the oral surgeon trimming the 'flap' he graphed into my mouth. He decided to biopsy the extra bits. The cancer was back, it came right through the New floor of my mouth! In December, more surgery, removing more tissue, teeth and a part of my lower jaw. A piece of titanium replaced the missing jawbone.

Because the cancer reoccurred so quickly, I was fast tracked into the radiation / chemo program during March.

Now I am trying to get teeth again, sigh. (I sure could use a cigar and a bottle of scotch).

Fed up, but still hungry!
From Canada,
Art2Go

Sorry you had to go thru so much but lets pray the chemo/rad did the trick.

Welcome to OCF. Sorry you have gone thru so much. I also have a jaw of steel Im sure your experiences can help many people. Hope you are still smokefree.

FYI - I am still sober and smoke free, I just miss it sometimes!

A2G

Good job!!!! Glad to read you are still smokless. I am a former smoker too. I quit about a week after my initial diagnosis. Told my son, thats it I quit and threw the cigs right out the car window and never smoked again. I never was much of a drinker, so that wasnt a problem for me. Some people have a really hard time quitting. Hope you stay smoke free

Like you Art I had a few biopsies by a maxillofacial surgeon on the white patches on the floor of my mouth over about a 5 year period. These were negative but the biopsy in 2006 was not. Met up with an ex colleague (doctor) last week who knew about the cancer. He asked if I was still smoking. My first reaction was to laugh as I thought it was a silly question but I guess not. Like Christine I gave up a week before the surgery. I was a heavy smoker but the cancer put an end to that for good. Like a former addict I know not to risk having even one !!
Best of luck recovering from all you have been through recently.

I quit smoking 3 years ago, but still have that urge. It's that we reached for a smoke when the hands were idle and lit one. Man that is a habit, the reaching that is, that must last forever. Wecome to our home away from home and good luck Art.

I have to agree that quiting smoking was one of the hardest things I have ever done.. I guit 1/2/2010.. about 2 1/2 months before my diagnosis... While I am certainly not advocating it my wife and I are using the new electronic cigarettes.. It definetly helps with the needing something in your hands. I have shown it to all my doctors along with the liquid nicotine that goes in it, they have all given me their blessing to use it....

Sorry for all that u have been thru but welcome to the OCF!!!

Hi Art and welcome fellow Canuck. Sounds like you have had a brutal time, but not unlike what many have been thru so they will certainly be able to relate to your jaw surgery. I am glad that they were proactive about that last biopsy and were able to fasttrack you through the system - early action is the cure.

Keep posting, many here can help you deal with side effects and other questions you might have.

Donna

And by the way - you will miss smoking LESS each and every day. Just distract yourself when the thought creeps into your mind - amazing how well that works (or maybe that was just me who had the attention span of a gnat!).

I almost never think about it anymore. Had I known that I COULD quit - I would have done it many years before and maybe not ended up with this cancer, but I never believed I was strong enough. I quit with the help of a free online stop smoking group called Quitnet. Without their help, I'm not sure I would have made it. Enjoy each day. Just remember - N.O.P.E. - Not One Puff Ever!

Donna