Hello friends,
My surgery is over (at least the first one) and after spending a week at UK Markey Cancer Center, I am home and recuperating. They removed the floor of my mouth and one third of my tongue. They replaced the floor of my mouth with a muscle graft from my left forearm, and covered my arm with a skin graft from my thigh. The good news is this: Staging is T2 N0 M0. So far, the doctor thinks there is a good chance I may escape having to have radiation. The bad news is that while three sides of the patch they removed were clear on the margins (I think I am saying that right), one side was not. So a week from Friday I go back to the hospital, and they will take out my bottom front teeth, the gum tissue, and depending, possibly part of the jawbone. In approximately two months, the doctor says he will go back in and begin to trim the muscle graft so that I can speak more clearly. Also later, something can be done about getting me some teeth on the bottom of my mouth.

I am doing very well and here are the problems if anyone wishes to comment or add their insights:

1. My speech drives me nuts. I am VERY tongue tied...actually the graft is so huge in the floor of my mouth (the doctor said my arm was unusually "thick") that my tongue is pushed to one side, and I look like and it feels like I have TWO tongues. Anyone with experience here?

Actually...I guess that is all that is bothering me. My spirits are VERY good, and I credit this forum with a lot of that, as when I found you all, I felt someone finally understood and could talk to me from first hand experience.