Amy,
I awoke from my biopsy with a trach. The ENT surgeon thought that my tumor was so large that the biopsy might choke me so he put in the trach. At first I could only talk if I put my finger over the end but the next week he replaced it with a "talking trach" that allowed me to speak normally.
Once I got to M.D. Anderson the surgeon there said I never needed the trach in the first place and he had it removed by his his P.A. who taped up the hole, which healed in a couple of weeks. The trach is like the feeding tube...at first it is scary and you doubt that you will be able to deal with it, clean it, suction it, change it out, etc., but after a couple of days you realize that there is not much to it at all. One time mine fell out on the counter and I just stuck it back in.

I am sorry about the new ordeal. Best of luck with it all.

Danny G.


Stage IV Base of Tongue SCC
Diagnosed July 1, 2002, chemo and radiation treatments completed beginning of Sept/02.