Hi Jon, Jack also had the right tonsil, about half of his soft palate, a base of tongue resection and a neck dissection last year. He was part of a clinical trial at U of PA testing the DaVinci robotic surgical technique. That was followed by chemo radiation.

It's very hard in the beginning to believe there's another side to this and that you will come thru it. None of us had any perspective in the beginning but it really does get better. One year later, we've just come back from our postponed trip to Hawaii where Jack ate everything he wanted to and went scuba diving with me. We even got remarried. I'd say that was pretty good quality of life.

Swelling is very common at this point post surgery, how have your graph sites healed? Are you scheduled for radiation and chemo, and if so when does that start, and how's your swallowing? We were very concerned about Jack's speech and swallowing when he was diagnosed but I am happy to report that his speech is perfect and his swallowing is getting better. He had speech therapy and did exercises to strengthen the muscles affected by the surgery and that worked well. He also had acupuncture for the dry mouth and is one of the ones that had very good results - I know others who have not felt that benefited them.

He's able to eat just about everything he could before but goes a little slower, doesn't chew and talk etc. He does not need an obdurator plate because his graph site on the soft palate healed very well, and he learned what worked and didn't with swallowing. Occasionaly he'll get food stuck but he "repositions" (hacks it up) and hasn't had major issues.

How's the snow up there in Western NY? I went to Niagara University and lived in Buffalo and had a good time up there...when I wasn't freezing. This site is a wealth of information, take some time to browse on the main page and try the search functions. If there is a topic you are interested in you can also search on this forum and come up with what others have said about it.

Regards JoAnne