I am 25 years old. Was in nursing school and a CNA when I was diagnosed on March 25th, 2010. Stage 3 SCC on the right side of my tongue.
They did a PET/CT scan and saw 1 lymph node on the right side of my neck lit up.

They did surgery on April 13, 2010 and did a Hemiglossectomy(removed right half of my tongue).

Free-flap transplant(piece of skin and blood vessels from my right forearm removed and formed to tongue to replace removed).

Right side neck dissection where they removed 40 lymph nodes, and only 1 had cancer

I was in the hospital for 8 days. Very bad experience, felt neglected and abused.

I had to go back to ER on 4/25/2010 because my trach was falling out and I was having a hard time with my feeding tube. They did a xray and feeding tube was in my duodenum. They also put straps around my neck to hold the trach in.

trach was pulled 4/26/2010. NG tube was pulled 4/30/2010.

On may 1,2010 my neck incision popped open and started oozing foul smelling pus, so I rushed back to er and was admitted for 5 days to try to drain and clear up the staph infection. They put the ng tube back in on the 1st, that was very hard for me.

May 10, 2010 they removed the ng tube again, and now I am looking at radiation that they are thinking will start in a month.

I am trying to find others to talk to who have gone through what I am going through or something close to it. None of my family or friends seem to understand why this is so hard.