Hello M,

I am so sorry to hear of your recent cancer diagnosis and surgery. My SCC was stage 4 on my tongue and in one node. I chose to do radiation and no chemo as recommended by my oncologist. I was told my chances of it coming back dropped in half if I did radiation. I did some research and found a few articles that backed this up. Unfortunately, I do not recall how/where I found them, Mayo Clinic website? or this website or ? or National Cancer Institute?

Sounds like you are aware the side effects from radiation are significant. They are getting better and supposedly proton therapy has less side effects.

I received standard radiation treatment and now nearly five years out have had lots of root canals, starting a bridge install tonight, saliva is enough to eat crackers again, food mostly tastes normal..in other words, I have most of my life back. I feel better than ever, to be honest, but I think that is just because I am more grateful for every day now, and my faith is on full blast these last five years.

Wish I had more info for you on this. Tough decision. I do know of one patient that chose not to but the oncologist was not pushing it and they were stage 1.

Hopefully others will jump in here.

Stay safe and keep the faith,
Nels

Yes my 1st biopsy revealed moderate epthelial dysplasia

(you can search for my post on that and see the verbiage the pathologist used describing the dysplasia in detail or click my username and navigate to all my posts and see it).

2nd Biopsy revealed micro invasive oral squamous cell carcinoma and more moderate dysplasia. Margins not big.

Partial (very partial) glossectomy and 3rd biopsy of excised larger piece of tongue found no further cancer but more low grade dysplasia.

Hi Derek,

Welcome to OCF forum and thank you for reaching out. I am so sorry to hear of your 2x cancer experience. About 5 years ago, I went through similar procedure to your recent one. And, even though my team prepared me for waking up with nasal feeding tube, neck dissection, flap surgery, arm and leg transplants, etc, it was still shocking. Amazing how long it took just to get out of bed and go for a short walk around the hallways. And, I had a family to help me once I got home. I recommend a book that may help you - Anticancer by David Servan-Schreiber.

I am curious, your first time through, did you get any follow up treatment such as radiation or chemo? How about this time?

Stay safe and keep the faith,
Nels

Hi, I am experiencing an issue at the tip of tongue and flap where there is a gap…the other adjoining areas have grown together albeit with some scarring yet the tongue and flap are basically one except at the tip.
Any advice on this is appreciated.
Kind regards
D

Hi Mr Fox

Hope you are well. Any update to your situation as I am experiencing similar symptoms approximately 7 months after surgery.

Thank you

I answered you probably in anothet thread or it was deleted..