My flap is still painful and no one can tell me why. When I put my tongue to the roof of my mouth or to the floor or side of my mouth for that matter, the suture line is painful. Although I can't feel when food or water go on it, it's still painful.
I am 4 months out of surgery and the docs said it could be some deep sutures still trying to work their way out, but it could be that way the rest of my life.
Same with my "free-flap" transplant site and the blood vessel incision. Docs say it shouldn't hurt, but it does.
As for the speech, i have the lisp and I can't say my L's or R's very well but otherwise I am ok. Docs say it should get better when my lymphedema is taken care of, but eh, you work with what you have to to get through.

Hey, it's good to hear about flap and speech issues. I love the idea of the Spanish lisp. Funnily enough I've been thinking of learning Spanish just for fun:) And I have just heard from my GP. My biopsy showed no cancer but I have thrush. That might be why I had a flare up of pain a few weeks ago.

I'm determined to achieve optimal speech and have bought a little Sony voice recorder. It's so easy to read something into it and listen and try to improve.

I had thrush twice in my 1st 2 years of recovery and it wasn't fun. The first time my tongue literally split down the middle but fortunately it came back together.

Great news about your biopsy!!!! Best of luck with your speech improvements.

Ooops, posted twice.

Fantastic news that the biopsy is clear of cancer. It is very worrying until you get the result.
I presume you have medication for the thrush?
Good luck with the DIY speech therapy
What a great idea! You could even take it on your walks and describe the scenery that you are photographing.
Gabriele

Hey Alpaca,
I'm happy to hear that your lump doesn't seem to be problematic any more. I also am a teacher and I am also currently teaching myself how to speak more clearly and effectively. My speech therapist sent me a gazzilion tongue twisters and told me to call her if I needed anything else, so I have been talking to a school speech therapist in my building. She mentioned putting a long wet frozen q-tip on the middle of the tongue to create a hollow there. She said that would improve the s sound and it does, to some degree. It takes a few weeks of once a day for about 10 minutes to see results. Good luck. Let me know if that helps.

I also love the Spanish lisp idea. I teach in an international school and will have to use that one. I also will use my tape recorder. So far, only one student has asked me what is wrong with my speech. It's a new teaching job for me, so they never heard me before the surgery. And only one student has noticed and commented on my neck scar. Funny how you think these things are more noticeable than others do.

Since my granuloma laser oblation and subsequent 3 granuloma regrowth we figured out it is Crohn's Disease related which can manifest anywhere in the digestive system. The normal part of my tongue always has little white sores. Anyway the lump was treated twice with cortisone injection and has shrunk significantly. just an FYI

7 year survivor SCC stage 1 N0M0 forearm flap reconstruction no chem or rad. "Get someone/ someplace to treat you who does this everyday" you can only have one succesful first surgery....

Since my granuloma laser oblation and subsequent 3 granuloma regrowth we figured out it is Crohn's Disease related which can manifest anywhere in the digestive system. The normal part of my tongue always has little white sores. Anyway the lump was treated twice with cortisone injection and has shrunk significantly. just an FYI

7 year survivor SCC stage 1 N0M0 forearm flap reconstruction no chem or rad. "Get someone/ someplace to treat you who does this everyday" you can only have one successful first surgery....