Hello Everyone,
I have been visiting this site for about three weeks now and finally am ready to post. I'm a 41 year old mother of seven daughters, two grandaughters, happily married, diagnosed with stage 3/4 squamous cell of the lower left jaw. This was found when I had a tooth extracted on Dec. 31st, although an official diagnosis wasn't made until April 1st. Surgery on April 16th, my jawbone was removed and replaced with the small bone in my lower left leg. I also had a neck disection, left side. 15 lymphnodes were removed, the one sitting beside the tumor in my jaw showed microscopic signs of cancer. I was in the hospital for 11 days and came home feeling like I had been to war. I started radiation 5 weeks later and finished on July 15th. I would do the surgery 10 times before I would ever do radiation again. I finished and I am slowly starting to heal, but it was a horrible experience for me personally. I am one of the most optimistic people around but it was rough to maintain that optimism with the radiation. I still use my peg tube but am slowly starting on some soup, etc.
My biggest struggle came when my treatment was finished...........all of a sudden I felt fear that I hadn't felt up until that point. I started looking at websites and the statistics were so dismal. I talked to my surgeon about it, he is the absolute best, and he explained it to me like this. He said that a statistic can not have everything to do with me as not everyone included in that statistic was exactly like me. He said to take the statistic, add to it that I am young and in awesome health, add that all my margins were clean after surgery, add that only one lymphnode high up on the neck showed any signs of cancer, and that mine was shown to be well differentiated, and my "statistic" number shot way up there. So, that is how I got past the severe depression I worked myself into by reading statistics. I still have my moments where I hear my nine year old holler for me, MOMMY, and I worry that she won't be able to holler for me in a few years BUT.........I do my best to push that thought away and go give her a big hug. I believe that my doctors know what my best shot is and they feel I will live to be an old woman.........they are at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital and teach at Eastern Virginia Medical School......they also use the tumor board approach. The skill and compassion this group of men used to help myself and my husband through this speed bump in our lives is barely short of amazing. They say I owe my dentist my life, as he was quick to send me to the oral surgeon. Mine was found at a late stage, but still at a stage that could be cured as it was in a spot that allowed removal of the tumor. Three and a half months later I look almost exactly like I did before, with scar on my neck that I don't even try to hide. Only my mother would be able to tell something had been done to my jaw, it looks wonderful. So, is there anyone else out there that had their jaw removed??
I like this site as it offers so much information and answers for all stages of head and neck cancer.