Hi Cynthia,

Sounds like I had nearly the same operation as Hank. My cancer grew from a peridontal infection where I had the tooth pulled but the wound never healed. I had a partial maxillectomy with a free flap graft from my right thigh. My lymph nodes were not removed.

I ended up on a feeding tube - nasogastric- for 39 days as my flap came loose and had to reconnect to the roof of my mouth, which it thankfully did.

My speech was garbled for nearly two months post-op, but now my wife and family say I speak perfectly. To me it still sounds off and I did test it using a voice recorder and it sounded notmal to me on replay! So, his speech should improve. My graft has shrunk.

It sounds like Hank is doing great. I did 6 weeks of radiation which I will be honest with you was not easy, though not insurmountable. Radiation altered my taste buds, which are slowly coming back to normal 4 weeks 5 days post radiation. My saliva turned to the consistency of molasses, and that has yet to improve. My mouth is dry, and the facial hair that was exposed to radiation was burned away- half a beard and half a mustache.

It is difficult to eat anything but soft or pureed foods without normal saliva.

I have trismus which is a daily struggle. As yet lymphadema has been rather mild though I keep up with my daily exercises.

During radiation I was nauseaous most of the time and the smell of food was abhorrent to me. I lived on liquid meal replacements and lost 20 lbs. If Hank does radiation he needs to fatten up as much as possible.

The best to you both