No we never got to see Dr. Harrison we had to cancel the appt in FL and get surgery for David ASAP. There was no oral tongue left to save; what wasn't tumor was necrotic and the floor of his mouth was invaded to the anterior mandible. Dr. Bak did a resection of the jawbone and took all his lower teeth, which were badly charred by radiation anyway, and put in a titanium plate. He got a good margin and didn't have to do a mandibulectomy with bone graft. Fortunately the tumor never got anywhere near the larynx. Only levels I-III of lymph nodes were removed as imaging didn't show lymph node involvement. Two other head and neck surgeons David saw said he'd likely need a laryngectomy due to being an aspiration risk from losing too much tongue. Despite losing all his oral tongue David can still swallow only hrs out from his surgery!

David had horrific facial pain for months and spent 12 days in the hospital for pain management, getting out only three days before the big surgery. He's reporting the facial pain is gone now, though he's dealing with normal postop pain, which despite having multiple large incisions and so much stitched up all over, is manageable.