[quote=ConcernedDaughter]Van paddler, thank you for your account as well. It's encouraging that you speak and eat well despite the surgery. I think that's always everyone's biggest fear. Did you go to speech and swallow therapy? How soon after surgery were you eating? Dad's surgeon says they test swallowing at 14 days. Does that mean he won't eat at all before then?

I'm curious about the tongue swelling. My dad already had a neck dissection with his first surgery so I am aware of that and how it comes and goes due to lymph system. Does the tongue heal relatively quickly? [/quote]
I didn't really have any speech therapy. The person who came to see me when I first started eating taught me how to roll the food over the top hump of my tongue. I think I was starting to be able to speak reasonably clearly at that time, so they never really seemed concerned. I speak more clearly all of the time, but still get tripped up when spelling D's and G's - they seem to sound the same to others.

I started eating solid food probably around day 14 as well. Before that time (and after the surgery), I was on a nasal tube and they just kept dumping some light brown gunk down there. Not really sure what exactly it was - I'd guess its some sort of high calorie product similar to Boost or Ensure. Then they started me out slowly with soups & juices, then cream of wheat & blenderized foods. When I proved I could eat enough calories on my own, they yanked the NG tube out, removed the last of my staples from the wrist site, and let me go home.

Haha, I probably had the wrappings on my wrist for longer than necessary. The nurses just told me to keep applying Polysporin and covering it with the non-stick pads, then sent me on my way. I wasn't really told when I could STOP doing this, and once I was out of the hospital, I was seeing different people of various specialties that didn't really know much about wound care, so I just used up the rest of the pads they gave me. It was also quite easy to scratch, and because I paddle in waters with a fair amount of coliform in the summer, I kept wrapping it up just in case I nicked it somehow while I was on the water.