Hi there and welcome!!! (it goes without saying that I really wish you didn't have to be here) There are quite a few here who've had a similar surgery. Mine was a tumor in my tongue... but the surgery was very similar. They rebuilt part of my tongue with tissue from my wrist and replaced it with a thin piece of skin from my thigh. My surgery lasted 14 hrs. (it sounds horrible but honestly it wasn't painful post op - mostly uncomfortable and I looked horrendous! They cut the nerves in my neck during my neck dissection and as a result I was pretty much numb in the operative area...)
I would make sure you get the best treatment by someone who is an expert in the field of oral cancer - my first ENT missed it entirely, the second while he diagnosed it correctly was a bit of a butcher. When I found out it was cancer I sought out the top dr. at the top cancer center... here in Toronto that's Princess Margaret Hospital. There are a few different causes of OC.
HPV+ cancers tend to respond well to radiation and chemo and generally don't need a lot or any surgery (some people with tonsillar cancer do have it removed prior to chemo and rads) generally the type of cancer you describe - cheek, gum, tongue is not
HPV +. For this type of cancer, usually the first line of defense is surgery then a possible follow up with chemo and rads. (this is usually dependent on the dr. and what he recommends) it does happen a little more than not that a dr. will turn around and say.... that's it I got it all - go home - only to have the patient suffer a recurrence shortly after - often in the nodes, gums, jaw, etc.
I am not saying this to scare you. A cancer diagnosis is enough to do that all by itself, I know. I'm just saying it as a warning for you to get to know your mouth, and your neck now, and post op that way if anything pops up you know it right away and don't leave it too long.
Are you having a neck dissection? It is said on this forum that sometimes it's not recommended. But I think that applies more to
HPV + cancers. Where this type of cancer is concerned it's often par for the course. This is because it tends to jump from your mouth into your nodes next. Mind you a lot of this is related to the aggressiveness of the cancer, and the staging etc.
My dr. said from the outset that he was removing 40 of my lymph nodes. I didn't argue.. Between my DX and my surgery (less than six weeks) I had a node pop up. It didn't show on any scans but post op it tested positive for SCC and had broken through the capsule of the node into the surrounding tissue. I was completely grateful for his having decided to remove the nodes from the beginning. Regardless, of the fact he believed he got it all, he still send me for rads and chemo. In other words he threw the book at it and I'm glad he did.
Bottom line this cancer can be very aggressive. Do what you can now. Educate yourself so you know what to expect, what questions to ask, and what is specific about your cancer... (size, staging, aggressiveness (differentiation)) and exactly what they are doing to you surgically.
Most importantly... try not to freak. It is scary as heck, but there are a lot of survivors here who've been through it all. hugs and take care.
