Hello, friends.

Last week I developed a lot of painful red patches at my partial glossectomy surgical site. It worsened over a few days, so I was seen by my surgical oncologist. He said it looked like a fungal infection brewing under the surface of my tongue. He ordered a two week treatment of Diflucan and I am to see him in follow up in 3 weeks. It took me a few extra days to get started on the med because I have a history of QT interval prolongation and diflucan can make that worse, leading to cardiac issues. So, I had to have a baseline EKG before they would start me on the meds. During the time that I had to wait for the EKG (these things always happen later on a Friday or over the weekend, of course!), the fungal infection did indeed erupt with the white patches, etc.
I feel as though I should be getting somewhat better since beginning the med, but when Dan looks at it, he says he cannot see a difference/improvement and I am still in a lot of pain. I may have been to rough on my tongue with trying to eat somewhat regularly, but even eggs and soft vegetables cause more pain. I've been doing balanced protein smoothies for at least one of my meals, but I think I will need to keep it liquid so that my tongue can settle down.
This is my third infection since my treatment ended 10/31/12. Does anyone else have this problem?
I've been eating healthfully, avoiding complex cards (except for one serving of plain oatmeal with Greek yogurt & fruit in the AM).
I will say that even though I tote my water bottle with me at all times, i have awoken with such severe dry mouth that it seems like everything in my mouth is stuck together. We have a cool mist humidifier going constantly. I don't know if the excessive dry mouth was a contributing factor.
Getting back to my point, there is part of me that worries that this isn't a fungal infection, but worse. I can't help it. When my tonsils blew up 17 months after having tongue Cancer, it wasn't supposed to be Cancer... Just a fluke event that would require them to come out. My surgeon said that he didn't think it was Cancer. Then I woke up in my hospital room and found out lightning struck twice... Two totally different cancers, each with unknown etiology. I just don't want round 3!