This is my first entry on this message board. My wonderful husband Jack, 60, had surgery last Monday (August 11, 2003)to remove a squamous cell lesion on the floor of his mouth. He had a skin graft taken from his upper leg and placed where the tissue was removed on the floor of his mouth. His dentist found the lesion during a routine teeth cleaning. The ENT surgeon feels he removed all the cancer, which was 3 millimeters in size. Good News!! A little background information - oral cancer (T1,N0,M0)is the third cancer my husband has had during the past ten years. First, he had colon cancer and had 14 inches of his colon removed, 4 years ago prostate cancer whereby he opted for brachytherapy seed implantation and now oral cancer.
My question is this, Jack has had really smelly breath since the second day of his surgery - so much so that I can tell when he's been in a room even after he's already left. He had also developed a nagging dry cough. I would like to know if this is normal after having oral cancer surgery.