Hello all, I just wanted to introduce myself , and it is truly wonderful to know that there is a site with all of us in mind. I recently have just gone through a 2nd surgery, I was diagnosed with Sqamish cell carcinoma in Nov 2006, I had surgery to remove a portion of my left mandible, and my bottom teeth( all bottom front and all the left. Doctor thought they removed all the cancer, and then guess what?, april cat scan follow up revealed more cancer, all through the jaw bone, I had to go in for more surgery, this time to remove the whole left jaw bone. 14 hour surgery. I have since been home from hospital after 20 days. I am still recovering, doing the ritual cleaning, and my Flap is a little swollen, where I cannot talk, or eat. I am going for radiation in a week, hopefully this will reduce my swollen tongue flap. It is very frustrating. But it is also my road to recovery. It sure beats the severe pain I was in before my surgery. The Doctor is sure they got all the cancer this time. They also removed my Lymph Nodes. I have remained positive through this whole thing, Yes I was a little upset that I had to go through 2 surgeries, I just wish they would have done all they did this time the 1st time. But hey, I accept the fact, I am now recovering, and I have become very strong and positive person. I look forward to knowing my life has been spared again, and that I will be living a happy healthy positive life now. I LOVE LIFE. ! I pray for all who have to go through this nasty disease, and pray for quick recovery. Thank you for having a site for me to go to and share my story.

Shelly,

Welcome and I'm sure you will benefit from this site.

What tpye of rad and how much will you receive?

Did thet say anything about chemo?

Welcome, Shelley. There are a good number of patients like you on this site. I, myself, had my right maxilla (upper jaw) removed, so we have something in common, but there are several who write regularly who have had the mandible removed. They seem to be doing well, though I am certain that the road has not been easy. You sound like you are going to be just fine. You'll find friends and support here. Welcome.

Welcome to OCF Shelley,

I am very happy that you found this site. Yes, there is a lot here to learn. Like August said you will find lots of help and information to help you walk through this.

So put on a smile You are in good company.

Take care,
Diane

Thank you all, I am so very happy I have a support group to go to on this site. David, I will start my rad , on the 18th, it will be 4 weeks 5 days a week. NO chemo so far is needed. I was unaware of the different radiation treatments, what other kinds are there?. I guess when I go for my inital visit next week they will let me know. Thank you , I look forward to sharing more stories of strength.

I'm sure you will get IMRT which stands for Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy. This is the standard bearer now for H & N cancers. Doctors are able to deliver more killing power to the areas that they think need it while delivering less to areas deemed important to "save". The old standard bearer, called RT, was uniform in it's delivery of the killing power so more damage to good cells was done. Many who had RT suffered great losses in saliva production long term whereas many who have had IMRT seem to have recovered their saliva production better.

Please always keep in mind that no 2 people will ever react identically to IMRT. It's like a bell curve; a few will breexe through; a few will be devastated and the majority will have a very tough time but will recover nicely over time.

Shelley: So sorry to hear that you've had to go through all this a second time, but it sounds like you've got a great attitude, and I'm told that's as important as anything.
Husband is scheduled to have his lower right jaw removed/replaced this coming Thursday at Baptist Hospital in Winson Salem, NC. I feel that we are in good hands, but I'm scared to death! Thank you for your positive post. Each one I read helps so much! I'll be reading each of your posts with great interest... Lois & Buzz

Hi Shelley,

I had the surgery you just had and am doing fine four years later. I'm glad to hear they feel the got all the cancer.

Concerning your radiation, just to counter note Davids great information. If your doctors tell you that your treatment will include conventional radiation, don't let that scare you. Not everyone is a candidate for IMRT, I wasn't as my tumor was large and they wanted to make sure they got anything left over. What they did do was set up my treatment so that the radiation beams avoided hitting one of my large salivary glands which left me with an adequate amount of saliva. Truth be told, compared to all the survivors on here that have had IMRT, I feel that I'm in the top 20% as far as recovery of saliva.

Keep us posted!

Minnie