Hi New To The Board - 04-20-2005 12:23 AM
In May of 2003,my husband had cancer of the oral cavity and mandible and anterior floor of mouth on his right side. He had a full flap operation where he had his mandible replaced with a bone from his leg and muscle for the floor of his mouth. He lost half his teeth. He came home in four days from the hospital with a feeding tube and a cast on his leg. He actually felt fine. I forgot how long he had the feeding tube in, I think it was for about 6 weeks.
About a month and a half later he started his 33 sessions of radiation. Then he had all kinds of
problems from the radiation. About 8 weeks after his radiation sessions, his face swelled up with edema and it actually "blew" out about 4 inches of his scar. It took a long while for the edema to subside. Then he had a fistula that his doctor was worried about. He then had to go back on a feeding tube for almost 3 months. The fistula still wasn't completely healed to the doctor prescribed 30 sessions of hyperbaric oxygen sessions, the he had to go for another 20 sessions. It finally went away. He also has a "hole" in his scar where the edema blew out and it has crystalization coming out.
His last visit to the plastic surgeon at Loyola University said he still had a little puss in his mouth and the hole in his scar,
and is very concerned that it may an infection where the bone is fusing. All the dental scans don't really show anything because of all the hardware in his lower jaw. If it was up the the doctor he would have my husband have another full flap surgery and remove the hardware, but husband isn't going for it. So now the doctor told him see what his dentist says when he goes for implants.
He is now going to an oral surgeon and the surgeon is also concerned about the puss. He has recommeded my husband to have a couple of doctors at University of Chicago see him (counterparts of his from Loyola) to have a second opinion. Plus he has one tooth pulled from the other side of his mouth and its taking a long time to heal, it was full of puss when he pulled it. He still has to have another one pulled but oral surgeon won't do it until this tooth is healed completely.
Has anyone here had this type of operation and if so did you have tooth implants?
About a month and a half later he started his 33 sessions of radiation. Then he had all kinds of
problems from the radiation. About 8 weeks after his radiation sessions, his face swelled up with edema and it actually "blew" out about 4 inches of his scar. It took a long while for the edema to subside. Then he had a fistula that his doctor was worried about. He then had to go back on a feeding tube for almost 3 months. The fistula still wasn't completely healed to the doctor prescribed 30 sessions of hyperbaric oxygen sessions, the he had to go for another 20 sessions. It finally went away. He also has a "hole" in his scar where the edema blew out and it has crystalization coming out.
His last visit to the plastic surgeon at Loyola University said he still had a little puss in his mouth and the hole in his scar,
and is very concerned that it may an infection where the bone is fusing. All the dental scans don't really show anything because of all the hardware in his lower jaw. If it was up the the doctor he would have my husband have another full flap surgery and remove the hardware, but husband isn't going for it. So now the doctor told him see what his dentist says when he goes for implants.
He is now going to an oral surgeon and the surgeon is also concerned about the puss. He has recommeded my husband to have a couple of doctors at University of Chicago see him (counterparts of his from Loyola) to have a second opinion. Plus he has one tooth pulled from the other side of his mouth and its taking a long time to heal, it was full of puss when he pulled it. He still has to have another one pulled but oral surgeon won't do it until this tooth is healed completely.
Has anyone here had this type of operation and if so did you have tooth implants?