In July 2017, I was diagnosed with Stage 1 SCC of the left lateral tongue and had a partial glossectomy on Aug. 30. Though the tumor was removed with clean margins, because of its depth the surgeon recommended a selective neck dissection to remove and biopsy several lymph nodes. That operation was done Sept. 20. The nodes were negative for cancer. But I'm still dealing with the side effects of having two surgeries three weeks apart, and not knowing which problems will eventually get better and which ones will be permanent.
The incision begins under my chin and runs to behind my left ear. The scar tissue is very thick and pulls against the skin of my neck. It prevents me from tilting my head back (can't put drops in my eyes unless I lie down on the bed!), and when I swallow, it feels like I'm being strangled on the left side of my throat. The swelling on the left side of my face prevents me from opening my mouth wide, and I still can't chew on the left side (have been subsisting mainly on ice cream for six weeks.)
Is this a typical pace of recovery? How long should I expect it to take before things are at least semi-normal?
Also, there are two issues that concern me. For a year before I was diagnosed, I had a painful, non-healing ulcer on my tongue. Now, after having all the cancer supposedly removed, I still have a painful lesion on my tongue that sometimes bleeds. I mentioned this to the surgeon when I went to get my neck stitches removed on Sept. 28, and he said the tongue sore was "just part of the healing process." But the pain is getting worse. Is this normal?
The other thing is: When I had the glossectomy on Aug. 30, I was discharged from the hospital just a couple hours after coming out of anesthesia. I live by myself, so I was all alone. There was so much swelling in my tongue that it was difficult to swallow, so I wasn't able to drink much. By the following evening, I was very dehydrated, and I lost consciousness and passed out on the floor, which caused one of my front teeth to bite very deeply into my lower lip. It was a bloody mess -- and it never completely healed. It will seem to get better, and then a hard, swollen lesion will reappear. Has anyone else ever had a busted lip that persisted for six weeks? I know the wound was caused by my fainting accident, but still -- having just been treated for SCC of the tongue, it's hard not to be a little nervous about lip cancer.
Am I just expecting too much progress, too soon? Any advice would be appreciated. (P.S. My next follow-up with the surgeon isn't scheduled until Nov. 30.)

Im very sorry to hear you are having issues with healing slowly after your surgery. Many of us have been thru that too. If you are concerned about the sore in your mouth... get it checked. Any sore inside your mouth for more than 2 or 3 weeks that does not resolve itself in that timeframe should be checked by a professional. That said, it must be bothering you or you wouldnt have written about it. You do not need to only see your surgeon for check ups, I suggest seeking out an ENT who specializes in treating OC patients. A biopsy will tell you exactly what that non-healing sore is, then you'll know if it needs to be removed. If you are not feeling like your surgeon is addressing all your concerns you might want to seek out another doc to get checked out. It cant hurt to have a second set of eyes making sure you are ok.

To help speed your healing you may want to try increasing your protein intake. A diet high in protein will help with your recovery. You should make sure its ok or if you have other things going on that increased protein would not help with. If I were you I'd check in with my family doc to find out why your sores take so long to heal, and ask about increasing your protein intake. I also suggest asking about the best way to increase your protein. There are many things out there like high protein whey powder, protein shots, hi protein smoothies, eating more meat or peanut butter, etc. To me 6 weeks to heal your lip sounds like a very long time for someone who has not had radiation for OC. Patients who get radiation have problems with very slow healing. I would expect to hear about the 6 weeks from someone who went thru rads.

Best wishes with your continued recovery.

Hi hikerdeb, as you can see from my signature we've had similar surgeries around the same time. Now I can't answer how fast you will heal or how much flexibility you will regain, since everyone is different, but I can tell you a little about my experiences (so far).

After my neck dissection I couldn't pull my chin up even one millimeter and when I tried (I say tried because it was almost impossible) to turn my head to the right I felt my skin pulling tight from my chin to my collarbone all the way to my left ear. I got a list of exercises to do from my physical therapist and in the beginning I did them 2-3 times a day. Since the radiation started I’ve been doing them 5 times a day and about a week ago I finally noticed I don’t need to bend my knees anymore when I look up or turn my whole body when I want to look to the side. I also had some trouble swallowing because of the surgery but the strangling/tightening feeling went away when I started getting some flexibility back in my neck. So if you haven’t yet, get in contact with a physical therapist and starts doing the exercises regularly. And if you’re already doing them maybe you should talk to you physical therapist and check if you’re doing them right. Maybe there are other exercises she/he can recommend.

When it comes to your other questions the only thing I can do is to echo what Christine already advised you to do and say go get it checked again. I would rather have too many biopsies done in my lifetime than have one biopsy too little.

Thank you for your response. (It's weird how we've had the same procedures almost simultaneously!) Other than immediate post-op care (keeping the incision clean, etc.), I was given no instructions or advice as to what I should do to speed the healing process (in terms of diet, exercises, etc.). Do you think I should call the surgeon's office and ask for a referral for physical therapy?

If your insurance company needs referrals to go to PT, then yes call and ask your surgeon for the referral. You also should have a referral for a speech therapist or SLP. The sooner a patient begins PT, the better they will do with regaining their mobility. Wishing you all the very best!!! Please let us know how you make out.

Chiming in late but please see a speech and swallowing specialist. They make a world of difference.