Good Morning Friends!
I have decided to post in this new forum as my previous post was under "Possible Recurrence" and now the recurrence has been confirmed. My surgery is scheduled for June 19th and I would like to find out more about speech and eating issues following a partial palatectomy. I currently have a prosthesis which replaces the right upper jaw removed in previous surgeries. The prosthodontist will use this temporarily and add an obturator to fill in the hole left by the removal of the palate. I currently lead a very active life and of course, would love to continue doing so in spite of this upcoming surgery. My questions are:
1) How was the recovery process for those of you have have gone through this? Were you able to leave the obturator in so you could speak right after surgery or were there days or weeks when it had to be left out for healing purposes?
2) I will have a nasogastric feeding tube at first. How long did you have to leave that in place?
3) Have any of you used healthier versions of the Ensure/Boost protein drinks in your feeding tubes?
4) I have severe xerostomia from past radiation and parotidectomy. If I'm not able to drink by mouth initially, will I just have to use small sponges to wet my mouth?

I will address all those questions with the doctor in my pre-op visit, but I would love to hear any of your first hand experiences and words of wisdom before I have this latest surgery.
Thank you all for your input!
Love,
Karen

Karen,

I can’t speak to your first two questions, but I do know a bit about 3 & 4.

My husband was Ensure 2.0 and later Nutrin 2.0. The latter has 495 calories and was prescribed by the dietitian. Is that what you were thinking about when you said “healthier?” In fact, I also added ice cream and sometimes fruit to the supplement to boost the calorie intake. I used a Vitamix.

You will have to wet your lips as well as inside your cheeks with sponges as well. John also rinse his mouth with water but he wasn’t allowed to swallow it because he had silent aspiration. Using a lip balm also helped.

The nasal feeding tubes are very temporary. They are used more for patients who require a less permanent amount of assistance. Ive seen patients use these for anywhere from 3 weeks-2 months. Removing the tube is so much easier than removing the PEG or J/G kind of feeding tube.

Feeding tubes usually come with liquid prescription formula. This is supplied by a medical supply company with a prescription from your doc. These formulas are designed to work with feeding tubes. Other formulas or blended foods may not work with nasal feeding tubes. They can break down or clog the tube. Ask your doc for their input prior to trying anything that wasnt prescribed.

Looks like you will be a very informed and pro-active patient. Im glad to see you are trying to learn everything that will make the upcoming treatments as easy as possible

Thank you so much Gloria and Christine for the helpful information. I'm so sorry for your loss, Gloria, and I appreciate you staying here to help those of us still in the battle.
I wish I could make my own tube food, but, as you say, Christine, the nasal tubes are narrower and would probably clog I'll discuss this more with the doctors and nutritionist.
Anybody else out there have experience with obturators? I would appreciate more input on how the adjustment went, problems with speech and eating, etc.
Thanks friends!
Karen

Hi, Karen!

I, too, am a teacher (still am!), and I had a partial palatectomy and upper right maxillectomy in 2009, with chemo and rads to follow. I have been wearing an obturator since then, with great success in terms of fit, speech, eating, and drinking. I have a lot to share with you, but I have to go out of town at the moment (just saw your post!). I will be back tonight and will hop onto the Forum to continue. Short version is, my own experience with the palatal obturator has been very good -- I have been able to speak from surgery through now (and going forward, I am certain!). The first obturator they gave me they actually put in during surgery, and it was attached with (I believe) a little bit of hardware somewhere. It enabled me to speak and drink from the get-go. After that was removed, a different obturator was made, and that one clipped onto my remaining upper teeth (left side). I have gone through several versions of that, and now have a "permanent" removable obturator that works spectacularly. I take it out at night to rest my tissues, and put it in all other times (except to clean, of course). More later. There are a few of us on the Forum here, so we will walk you through things!

Hugs-
-Chris