Hello,

Just to update you on my situation. I was operated at the end of May. The V-Y-plasty was a minor operation, a quickie done under local anesthesia. For some weeks, I had to take pain meds, as the area was hurting a lot, just like oral operations usually do.

After the operation, there developed a problem with the healing of the scar in my mouth. A bump starting growing at the root of the scar. In that point I think the sutures collapsed - sorry, I don't know the right word in English - and a wart started growing outwards.

The bump grew bigger and bigger under my tongue, it was really a big one. It was in place there for several weeks. I visited the emergency room where a surgeon took a look at the bump. She said it didn't look suspicious to her, but that we would take another look after a month to see the bump again. She said it could be a hyperplastic enlargement, kind of a reaction to irritation produced by the operation or something, in which case the bump of tissue could start getting smaller, too. The bump had grown fast, in three weeks.

I was worried. And I must admit I didn't know if I had contributed to the problem, because I hadn't stopped smoking during the time of the operation. I do not smoke much, a few cigarettes daily, but I realize I should not have smoked when the operated area was healing. Of course I know smoking irritates the oral mucosa. What can I say :-(

1,5 weeks ago I decided not to touch my cigarrettes. For me it has always been really easy to quit and I have had long periods of not smoking or only a bit of it. Although it's an addiction, a bad one, in the sense that in the long term,I have never been able to start living without tobacco since I first inhaled when I was 15 or so.

What has happened after this 1,5 weeks? The bump started getting smaller. It has miraculously almost disappeared! I am so glad! I was almost afraid that the bump was a fast-growing oral cancer. Or, alternatively, the bump would stay there and would have to be biopsied and maybe there would develop another bump, and so I would end up in a series of operations, which of course would not be good for the mucosa.

I have no idea if taking a break in smoking had such a fast positive effect on the bump. I wonder.




With kind regards,
Mariaxx