 "Above & Beyond" Member (500+ posts)
Joined: May 2008 Posts: 551 | Christine,
Free flap is a reconstructive technique, not a destination. The procedure is used to rebuild tongues but also to rebuild breasts after mastectomy and apparently, to rebuild cheeks.
I don't know the answers to the rest of your questions, but I will say that after my surgery, the most painful surgical site was the thigh where they took the skin to cover the hole on my wrist. That stung like a m*@#$r.
- Margaret
PS - you are in my thoughts and prayers
Stage IV SCC lt lateral tongue, surgery 5/19/08 (partial gloss/upper neck dissection left side/radial free flap reconstruction) IMRT w/weekly Cisplatin & Erbitux 6/30/08, PEG 1 6/12/08 - out 7/14 (in abdominal wall, not stomach), PEG 2 7/23/08 - out 11/20/08, Tx done 8/18/08
Second SCC tumor, Stage 1, rt mobile tongue, removed 10/18/2016, right neck dissection 12/9/2016
Third SCC tumor, diagnosed, 4/19/2108, rt submandibular mass, HPV-, IMRT w/ weekly Cisplatin, 5/9 - 6/25/2018, PEG 3 5/31/2018
| 
