for the third time in 3 years my hubby is going to face a battle with cancer this time tongue cancer, all 3 are separate primaries no mets(how unlucky + lucky can you be at the same time).

Hes found out Monday it was tongue cancer for sure, went for his pre-op today and is going for surgery on Tuesday morning. What can we expect fully, I know they give you a description at the hospital but that never gives the big picture.

It's a neck dissection, partial glossectomy, reconstruction from his forearm and graft from his leg(free flap), and they said he will have a trach and nasal feeding tube for 7-10 days, what is he in for?

I have had that surgery, Trinity. It's a big one. Works well though with the flap reconstruction giving the tongue shape and volume. The rest of the tongue moves it so speech and eating are not much of a problem. The first 7 days are pretty awful with the trach, and tubes everywhere, arm in a cast, but after Day 8 things pick up. The trach comes out, NG tube comes out, and normal life can slowly resume.

I've also had 2 or 3 primaries. It's debatable whether the first 2 were the same cancer or not because the first surgery didn't get clear margins and the 2nd cancer grew in the scar tissue. The 3rd cancer was definitely a new primary.

It's very very hard to get these three cancers so close together as well as all the side effects. Christine will advise extra care with nutrition to make sure Chris is in the best state possible to have the surgery.

Im so very sorry to read about your husbands 3rd diagnosis! I went thru the same thing, 3 times in 3 consecutive years. The 3rd one I couldnt believe it as I felt great and found out the day after a 25 mile bike ride with my son.

I hope I am able to ease your mind a tiny bit with sharing my experiences. I will also be very honest. Just remember... everyone is different and will have a different experience. The odds were against me, I had little to no chance of getting thru the 3rd round of OC. My doc told me to get my affairs in order which to me sounded like he was sure I wouldnt survive. Somehow I was able to get thru the 10+ hour surgery and even when I had major complications where my body rejected the new titanium jawbone, I survived. I was kept in a medically induced coma for 2 weeks and when I woke up, I was in incredible pain which made it even worse. I ended up in the burn unit and ICU, making for a 2 month hospitalization. I had a feeding tube, a trach and was all pieced together with several wound sites the size of my hands with staples. The recovery was well over a year for me and it was very difficult. I had 8 months of daily IV antibiotics thru a picc line and too many HBO dives to count plus visiting nurses several times a week. After all of that, Im still here. Please pass all this along to your husband. I have faith that if I can do it, he can too. Its not going to be easy. I know he is up against a major surgery and long hospital stay plus a long recovery. I hope I can provide even a small glimmer of hope to you both with saying that today I am 6 years cancer free and doing well.

Stick with us and we will be here every step of the way to help you both get thru this round. Hopefully this will be his last round of cancer and he can recovery and get on with living his life.

Best wishes!!!

Thank you guys, Chris hates the hospital so it is gonna be a long stay for him. at least know we know what to expect, the trach kinda freaks him out a little bit he has a lot of flem in his lungs uaully(side effect of his lung surgery) and hes afraid he won't be able to cough it out properly.

My thoughts are with you and Chris, Trinity.

It has been awhile since I have updated this, It has definitely been a busy/rough time.

Well the surgery went as expected, this is a third type of cancer unrelated to the others, that's 3x in 3 years. Chris has had some complications and Had a PEG placed the end of Sept.

Hes also had a scary go around with pneumonia that left him in the ICU for 10 days in early Oct. ( they figure that is a complication of the PEG placement). Biggest blow to him is to not be able to eat right, his flap is still swollen and at some point will probably need to be adjusted, so he can only eat 5-10 bites of something and even then we are both paranoid about aspiration.
He had a follow up scan on thursday that went well, nothing new showed up, but after Dx 3 times you can't help but be anxious. He goes for gene testing right after Christmas, hopefully that will shed some light as to why hes gotten cancer 3 times.

Sorry for the long rambling post it has been a while since I have updated anyone.

~Trinity

Trinity, thanks for the update! Ive wondered how things were going. There arent many who have had cancer 3 times in 3 years like Chris and I have. We all fear any upcoming scans and checkups. I think its anxiety over just how difficult fighting this disease was it scares the crap out of us to even consider doing it again. Hopefully after this third bout he will not have to go thru anything like this ever again.

Best wishes with Chris's continued recovery.