My surgeon looked like Andre Agassi!

After a multi-disciplinary team looked at me and made a team decision I didn't ask for a second opinion. However, things are different in NZ where there is less choice.

I had the wrist thing and was in hospital for 2 - 3 weeks. It took so long because my tongue took a while to heal enough for me to practise drinking and eating. It drove me mad being in a ward so long but in the last week I was able to go over to the cancer hostel my husband was staying in - a huge relief.

As soon as they took the trachie out I could speak intelligibly. There was a rapid improvement after that - same with my swallowing. I had a lot of tongue out and I'm still waiting for the flap to go down. I'm three to four months out and expect a good outcome eventually.