| Joined: May 2002 Posts: 2,152 Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) | Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) Joined: May 2002 Posts: 2,152 | Angelia, I really think you are pushing it to try to go back to work this soon. I had only radiation and no issues inside my mouth and went back to work 3 weeks after rads ended. I am a software engineer so have no need to talk or waste any energy. Desk job on the computer all day. It was the week before Christmas so the first week was a full week, the second a 3 day week and the third was a 4 day week. It was waaaaaay to soon. I was exhausted at the end of every day. If the second and third week had been full weeks, I could not have done it. It was six weeks before I was really up to full time work. Standing up in front of a class all day and talking takes a lot of energy, not to mention the prep time. If I were you, I'd give it a couple of more weeks before I went back to work. Your body needs time to heal.
Take care, Eileen
---------------------- Aug 1997 unknown primary, Stage III mets to 1 lymph node in neck; rt ND, 36 XRT rad Aug 2001 tiny tumor on larynx, Stage I total laryngectomy; left ND June 5, 2010 dx early stage breast cancer June 9, 2011 SCC 1.5 cm hypo pharynx, 70% P-16 positive, no mets, Stage I
| | | | Joined: Jun 2007 Posts: 5,260 Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) | Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) Joined: Jun 2007 Posts: 5,260 | I must be an oddball unless my continuing ,mucous is from the aneurysm work one year ago because mine is as bad as it was 2 years ago. this damn esophagus doesn't help either. But as I always say, I am alive and smiling or acting simple.
Since posting this. UPMC, Pittsburgh, Oct 2011 until Jan. I averaged about 2 to 3 surgeries a week there. w Can't have jaw made as bone is deteroriating steaily that is left in jaw. Mersa is to blame. Feeding tube . Had trach for 4mos. Got it out April. --- Passed away 5/14/14, will be greatly missed by everyone here
| | | | Joined: May 2009 Posts: 1,412 Patient Advocate (1000+ posts) | OP Patient Advocate (1000+ posts) Joined: May 2009 Posts: 1,412 | I am oddball to. When I went to my Dr. yesterday he told me that cancer doesn't normally return only three weeks after treatment. Then he said, oh yeah your not normal. He told me I had not followed any of the conventions or the rules. Well, I did not follow rules when I was a kid so why should I now? I am scheduled for a biopsy Wednesday at 2.
Angelia 31 at Dx. DX: 4/30/09, 10/21/09 SCC on floor of mouth, T1NOMO, T2N1M0 TX: 39 IMRT, 8 cisplatin 11/30/09 PET/CT: 11/03/09: Lymph node involvement PEG/PORT: 11/09 TX end: 02/01/10 PET Scan: 04/05/10 clear PEG Out: 06/21/10 Biopsy: 12/23/10: fibrosis HBO: 01/04/11 - ORN Baby girl born 11-30-12
| | | | Joined: Jun 2007 Posts: 5,260 Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) | Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) Joined: Jun 2007 Posts: 5,260 | LOL I like this post Angelia. I needed a smile this morning. Thank you much.
Since posting this. UPMC, Pittsburgh, Oct 2011 until Jan. I averaged about 2 to 3 surgeries a week there. w Can't have jaw made as bone is deteroriating steaily that is left in jaw. Mersa is to blame. Feeding tube . Had trach for 4mos. Got it out April. --- Passed away 5/14/14, will be greatly missed by everyone here
| | | | Joined: May 2009 Posts: 1,412 Patient Advocate (1000+ posts) | OP Patient Advocate (1000+ posts) Joined: May 2009 Posts: 1,412 | Your welcome Jim. trying to be humourus about the whole thing.
Angelia 31 at Dx. DX: 4/30/09, 10/21/09 SCC on floor of mouth, T1NOMO, T2N1M0 TX: 39 IMRT, 8 cisplatin 11/30/09 PET/CT: 11/03/09: Lymph node involvement PEG/PORT: 11/09 TX end: 02/01/10 PET Scan: 04/05/10 clear PEG Out: 06/21/10 Biopsy: 12/23/10: fibrosis HBO: 01/04/11 - ORN Baby girl born 11-30-12
| | | | Joined: Nov 2009 Posts: 396 Platinum Member (300+ posts) | Platinum Member (300+ posts) Joined: Nov 2009 Posts: 396 | u cant rush ur recovery any more than u could your treatment. wish i had a dollar for everytime i said that to andy. he brought in firewood three days ago and is still suffering the concequences. he is sore all over and can barely move now. ur body will let u know what u can handle at this point...if it doesnt tell u today, it will hollar at u tomorrow.
Teresa ----------- CG to ANDY. Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma (NPC) T2N2cMxG4 stage 4. 43 @ dx 8/31/09 tx 9/21/09-11/06/09 cispatin/docetaxel/5-FU X3 PORT 9/9/09, PEG 12/07/09 35 IMRT-1/wk carbo 11/30/09-2/3/10 tx stopped due to complications IMRT BOOST 3/08-3/12/10 PET 4/12/10 CLEAR! PEG out 4/14/10
| | | | Joined: Nov 2009 Posts: 212 Gold Member (200+ posts) | Gold Member (200+ posts) Joined: Nov 2009 Posts: 212 | Hi Angelia,
At almost 6 months out my voice still has issues. I am a presenter and after a couple of hours I get super hoarse. Docs say that is the way it is for now. It go up and down but iis very frustrating. It might wffect my carear. On the good side, I kind of don't care. This experience has changed my life for the better. I am happy to see the sun every morning and have appreciation for each day. If I can't present I will find a new job that is less dependent on my voice!
Hey, you can teach the kids how to spit...very important!
Steve
70 male, athlete...again SSC of undetermined orgin , early july 09 40 tx radiation, 8 chemo cisplatin and ebuterx finished TX in mid Sept 09 Clear at the 6 year mark! Back to swimming, biking and running! just a tad slower never regained my weight, even when I eat lots and lots, just a skinny guy now
Just way glad to be seeing the green side up!
| | | | Joined: Feb 2010 Posts: 38 Contributing Member (25+ posts) | Contributing Member (25+ posts) Joined: Feb 2010 Posts: 38 | Hi, my name is Barb and I teach literacy to special education students. I am concerned that I will ever be able to teach again after my "partial tongue glossectomy with wrist flap addition" surgery that is scheduled for March 8th. Angelia, I know that you have been out for a month and I can appreciate your desire to get back to the students. I think that being gone from work has been one of the most worrisome issues that I face. I am afraid to leave them for a long time, but I know that they will be fine. I am scared to death that I will be unintelligible and that my 20 year teaching career will be over. I'm scared. Can yo tell me whether you are able to speak well even though you have mucous madness?
Barb
Teacher aged 48, SCC Left side and floor of Tongue, Dx December, 2009. Stage II T2 N0 M0 Successful partial glossectomy surgery with thigh flap and neck dissection 3/8/10. 6 weeks of radiation tx ended 6/30/10. Happily surviving!
"Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere."
| | | | Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 4,912 Likes: 52 OCF Founder Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) | OCF Founder Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 4,912 Likes: 52 | Everyone responds to this differently. There are posters here that have had very radical surgeries that I have talked to on the phone, and they are very understandable. Some of them did have to go through speech therapy for awhile, but like many things, for some people it will require new learning.
There are only certain things you can actually control. Your first job and challenge is to get through whatever they decide is the best for you, and come out the other side cancer free. Worrying about what your future will after that is certainly normal, but this is not useful use of your time right now. One challenge at a time. successful treatment, dealing with the immediate side effects and afterward there will be a period of healing.
For everyone that period seems to go on forever, and the associated swelling and more will make your speech poor, but don't think that is your final result. As that swelling begins to subside over a couple of months, you will start to get a sense of where you are in all this as far as how easy it is to speak and be understood. If it needs work.... you have a new challenge, new therapy, and new obstacles to work around and past. Just try for now to focus on the main thing which is getting through the disease process. After all, you have to be around to have speech (and other) problems as my radiation doctor told me..... and he was very good at keeping me focused on one challenge at a time. The mental aspect is more than enough challenge even for the most robust people - let alone the physical aspects of it all.
You eat an elephant one bite at a time, not the whole thing at one sitting.......
Brian, stage 4 oral cancer survivor. OCF Founder and Director. The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant. | | | | Joined: Nov 2009 Posts: 644 Likes: 1 "OCF Down Under, Kiwi" "Above & Beyond" Member (500+ posts) | "OCF Down Under, Kiwi" "Above & Beyond" Member (500+ posts) Joined: Nov 2009 Posts: 644 Likes: 1 | Hi, Barb. I'm a teacher too but partly retired at 63. Four months after the same surgery I could well go back to work. I have no regular job but I'm thinking of taking on relieving (substitute work) in the next couple of months.
1996, ovarian cancer surgery + cisplatin and taxol. September, 2007, SCC of left lateral tongue. Excision. October, 2009 recurrence in scar tissue, T1NOMO. Free flap surgery from left wrist - neck dissection. 63 year old New Zealander. No chemo, no RT. February, 2014. New primary in left buccal mucosa. Marginal mandibulectomy, neck dissection, right arm free forearm flap. T1N0M0 but third occurrence and some areas of concern: RT started 8 April and finished 19 May.
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