Ok, back home from the surgery, which was on Dec 15th. Long 11 hour surgery at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. Wife said the reconstructive surgeon looked like he went through the wringer when he spoke with her after the surgery.

Docs said they removed all the cancer, was able to save back of tongue and part of the left side of tongue, find enough veins and arteries on the right side of my neck where I had previous radiation. Took a big chunk of hide out of my leg, scar runs from my hip bone to my knee. Gonna look sweet in cycling shorts in a few months.
Did the free flap reconstruction, seems to be going will, except I"m not exactly sure how this will work out since it seems my tongue is attached to the floor of my mouth. Speech is difficult at best. Usual assortment of drain tubes, G tube and trachea tube. Trache tube was remove total yesterday, as well as all the drain tubes and stitches/staples. Basically liquid canned food, normal meds. and antibiotic at this point.

Main issue now is all that scuzzy secretion stage, how long does that last? And of course no energy, if my 83 year old mom and I had a race, she'd win. Puttering around the apartment last night in between trying to sleep, felt about 85 years old. Nursing staff at the hospital said I didn't look 59, looked much younger, but I think they're trained to say that.

Next stage is just to get better, heal up and see what happens.

Have a question, do patients having gone through what we've been through eventually return to work, or do they just take long term disability and be done with it?