Recovering and stabilizing to my "New Normal"

Hi all... new to this website/forum and am very very happy to have found this source of support.

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. The doctors said I had adenoid cystic carcinoma which is usually caused by asbestos. !?!?!

I went to UCSF and they did a remarkable job. I have a new tongue designed from the skin and muscle (including a vein) that they removed from my forearm. then they covered that spot 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 a blessing and many folks do not come out of this kind of surgery being able to talk and swallow as well as I am experiencing, it appears.

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

My mouth and throat were so seriously burnt that I found I could not eat or drink a thing. Nothing went down and I vomited all day every day. I was only able to sleep for a couple of hours at a time regardless of what meds I took to sleep.

That all happened this past July, and I am happy to say I survived.

During that struggle with the radiation therapy I had a PET/CT scan done and it turned out that I also had lung cancer (from smoking)so a totally different type of cancer.

Almost immediately after my 35 sessions of radiation therapy I underwent surgery to remove a piece of my lung, taking the tumor out of course. The surgery was completely successful and I am now cancer free. completely cancer free.

I am still in recovery, tho, meaning that I have pain and am struggling with trying to get food down my throat. As of last week I am still loosing weight. I have a noticable lack of taste buds and no salivary glands.. so food tastes and feels very strange.

I am well aware of what good foods I should be eating, but these are the very same foods that I can't get down my throat. I am relying on the CVS store brand Ensure type liquid nutrition, and adding chicken noodle soup, spaghettios and sometimes beans down my throat. My favorite food right now are grapes. The small grapes feel cool and soft in my mouth and add moisture. I love grapes... too bad they are so low calorie.

Grapes too can be difficult to swallow... sometimes I have to cough them up from the back of my throat 3 and 4 times before I can get the pieces small enuf to go down... but they are worth the effort, for me anyway.

I appreciate having read so many blogs from you all, sharing your struggles with eating and putting on weight. I love having found you all and I am greatly helped by the many suggestions I have read about how to get food down our throats.

I wanted to share with you that I think of the people who contribute to this forum and am sending all of you my warmest wishes for your continued good health, and success in overcoming this serious illness.

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