Hi all... new to this website/forum and very very happy to have found this and all of you.

I live in Northern CA and had the tremendous good fortune to have had my throat/tongue surgery... the removal of my tumor at the base of my tongue... done by very skilled and dedicated surgeons.

I went to UCSF and they did a remarkable job. I have a new tongue designed from the skin/muscle and vein they removed from my forearm. Then they covered that removal with a piece of skin from my thigh.

My new tongue works very well� I can talk, my speech is a bit �thick� but people can understand me. I am told by many people that being able to talk after having had so much oral reconstruction is really a blessing and many folks do not come out of this kind of surgery being able to talk and swallow as well as I seem to be able.
Again, let me say I am amazed at the skill of these doctors�

My struggle tho is in eating enough to keep my weight on. I lost almost 70 #'s in this past year... mostly from complications with radiation therapy.

My mouth and throat were so seriously burnt that I found I could not eat or drink a thing. Nothing went down... I vomited every day... all day and night. I thought I would die from starvation. I really did.

But I survived... so happy to be alive. While I was undergoing radiation therapy I had a PET/CT scan done and it turned out that I had lung cancer (from smoking)... not related to the adenoid cystic carcinoma in my throat. !!!!

Immediately after the 35 sessions of radiation therapy I underwent lung surgery� and again, total success. I am now cancer free.

My struggle is still with recovering from my throat surgery and being able to eat/swallow enough food and liquids so as to keep my weight ON. At the beginning of this year I weighed in at approx.. 175#�s and am now weighing in at 109#�s.

I am still losing weight. I have almost no taste buds and my saliva is odd. I suffer from extreme dry mouth and have difficulty talking for any length of time.

Swallowing is very difficult and having been a �foodie� all of my adult life, I am having great difficulty finding things to eat that I can enjoy. I used to LOVE to cook and eat� now well� not so much.

Mostly I am relying on CVS store brand �ensure� type drinks. I have not had reason for the stomach pump� altho I was released from the hospital with my food tube still in my nose. I was being fed thru the tube for about 3 weeks after surgery, until I thought that I could manage to eat.

All was going very well UNTIL the radiation therapy. My reaction to the radiation was so severe that I really wondered if I was going to survive it.

I am very happy to have found this forum where we can share our success.

I have had difficulty dealing emotionally with the cancers, this has been a very difficult year to say the least. It was difficult but I made it. I won over these cancers and I want to keep the cancer away. I am very concerned about eating GOOD food, foods that will help to keep me strong and healthy.

Unfortunately these are not the foods that I can get down my throat. I am needing to eat starches and more sugar than I am comfortable eating. Veggies are very difficult to eat� maybe I can juice carrots and cabbage more often. That�s a thought!

Well, I wanted to say �hello�, introduce myself and to let you all know how happy I am to have found you all.

I really enjoyed reading the posts here about food and eating issues. I found a great deal of comfort knowing that there are others out there dealing with the my issues and finding success as well as encouragement.

Thank you all for your bravery and for sharing, and I hope to post again.