Well I haven't been in here since March when I had my first round of treatment for squamous cell cancer of the tongue. I finished 30 radiation treatments at the end of May and thought all this crap was behind me so I decided to buy a house and get on with life. On July 7th I had a routine follow up appointment with my oral surgeon and he found a "suspicious" spot in the original tumor site. 2 days before my house closed I was told that he didn't get the cancer and the tumor was still there. I asked him if I was going to die and he didn't say no, just that there was nothing left that he could do for me and that I would need to go to Seattle and be treated by a surgeon that i refer to as the Rock Star. Dr. Neil Futran and his team at the University of washington excised the cancer and then did a skin graft from my forearm and built me a new one. I am still recovering. I have had a difficult time with infections in my feeding tube and am as I write this on home infusion antibiotics hoping to clear up this painful condition. This sure has been a lonely journey for me. I'm glad you guys are here!


Lisa from Montana
40 years old
squamous cell-left lateral tongue & lymph with free flap skin graft and re-section,
PEG tube,
Total Glossectomy without Laryngotomy April 2011
Still mouthy as hell
plenty of war wounds
craving a cheeseburger

***10/14/11 UPDATE--Lisa has passed away