Hi my name is Mark Cohen and I had lymph and and base of tongue cancer surgery at UCLA last week. Clear margins they said! I am 1 week out of surgery and outside writing this post! I will not know the pathology until this Thursday. Hope it is HPV? My question to my friends out there is HOW to eat after this surgery? I am struggling with most food! I am determined not to give in to this cancer! Cold and hot seem to affect the foods as well? I imagine I have lost 12 pounds! I'm basically living on cocunut water for electrolytes. Aside from the eating, I got tongue Candida and still "need" to finish 2 more days of "prophylactic" Keflex; do I really need to push the 2 days of Keflex? Thank you Angels!

Sorry you had to join this site, but welcome. I did not have surgery for BOT, only in the cervical neck, but like with most treatments, recovery varies with everyone, due to many factors, such as extent of the tumor removed, prior treatments, age, health, and any underlying medical conditions delaying healing, swallowing. The neck dissection usually does not effect your eating, except for the effects of anesthesia for a few days, maybe pain meds. There is a link here with helpful hints for soft foods to eat, if you look down the menu selection post or I'll post later since I can't with my tablet. You may want to try foods at room temperature, so not to irritate the mouth, and not acidic, spicy. Thrush also effects taste, swallowing, pain, so treating that will help. Keflex is to treat bacterial infections,which can cause thrush too, and thrush is a fungal infections, and usually treated with anti-fungal's like diflucan ( flucomizole), clotrimizole, and other zole medications, but maybe it's new treatment for it? Thrush also feeds on sugar, fruits, yeast, alcohol, processed foods. There are mouth rinses to help, but check with your doctor due to the surgery you had.

Read again, and saw you are probably not taking Keflex for thrush, but you still need to finish it for the antibiotics to work or ask the doctor.

Good luck with the pathology report.

Welcome to OCF, Mark! Glad you have found the forum to help you with correct medical info and support.

Here is a list of foods which are easier to eat. They have a smoother texture and are on the bland side. Years ago I started this list to help patients who were going thru radiation or just relearning how to eat after treatment. The foods work equally well for patients who are recovering from surgery and have a very sensitive mouth.

Easy to Eat Foods

As far as the medication for the trush goes, YES you must finish it. Thrush can be a pain to treat and if you dont get rid of it completely it will return and could cause some more serious medical problems if not completely treated. Thrush also loves sugar so try your best to avoid it for the next few days.

Best wishes with your recovery and pathology results.

Sorry your here. But this sight has been a life savior for me. I know it will help you thru this. If this is a pain problem you may need some liquid lydocain.(Sp?) Numbs everything for 20 min or so.

Simple method is Boost and/or Ensure. Buy open, drink, repeat. But, corn syrup, veggie oil, and artificial chocolate flavor is really nasty stuff, but better than nothing. Better is to make your own. Great recipes can be found on this site.

Hi Mark, and welcome. I pretty much lived on the nutritional drinks for 6 months after my treatment, but that was because I had radiation. You didn't mention anything about any follow up treatment so I'm assuming they told you it wasn't needed (?).

I'm also here in LA and one of my docs was associated with UCLA, two others did their training there. Great place. Please send me an IM if you'd like to ask any specific questions. That I can answer of course!

Sorry you're here, but this is a great place for info and support. You're part of the family now. Congrats on the clear margins.

Hi Mark,
Have you asked your doc about Diflucan? This will cover any yeast infection in the mouth. Often the Keflex can cause an overgrowth of yeast. It's worth asking at least.
Yes, HPV+ would be better.
Kevin lost a total of 56 pounds throughout tx. After his BOT surgery it only took a few days to get to the point where he could eat again. He lost maybe 23 pounds during induction chemo and the rest toward the end of radiation and the weeks after.
When you know exactly what you are dealing with let us know. We're here for you!!
Kathy