Hi guys,

Well, here I go again. August 15th would have been my 10th anniversary of being cancer free from the second bout of oral cancer and I�m not going to get to celebrate it. I have just been diagnosed with a Stage I squamous cell lesion of 1.5 cm on the left hypo pharynx. The full body PET/CT and MRI show no mets which is good.

Since I have already had a full course of radiation, the tumor board is recommending surgery to remove this from my neck. It is unfortunately too close to the carotid artery for them to be able to remove it with the DaVinci Robot so they will have to cut me open. I will look like I went through a guillotine. They will most likely need to remove an artery from my arm to repair my throat and then a piece of skin from my thigh to repair my arm.

Surgery is scheduled for July 6 early am at HUP (U of Penn) and is expected to take 10 hours, same surgeon as before so I have confidence. I will be in ICU initially and in hospital 5-7 days. I will have a nasal feeding tube until the neck heals and the swelling goes down and I am able to eat � at least two weeks. I will not be able to talk until the swelling goes down � hopefully before two weeks. Current plan is for me to be sent home with home health care and my sister will take care of me for the first week. I will have to see how I feel after this surgery to see if that plan will work. I am expected to be out on disability for 8 weeks. I have no family or firends nearby so uill be doing this alone which is rather scary.

Any of you who have had similar surgery, please tell me what to expect from the arm and the leg. Will it be painful and for how long? Anything you can tell me about it will help.

All I wanted for this summer was to go to the beach and relax. I can�t believe this is happening to me again.

Take care,
Eileen

P.S. the report said this one is 70% P-16 positive, does that mean I'm HPV positive?

I answered your PM but a recent study has concluded that P-16 positive does not mean that you would also test positive for HPV but it does seem to indicate that your survival chances are the same as if you would. So one could be P-16+ and HPV- or P-16+ and HPV+ and respond to Tx similarily.

Hi Eileen

I am so very sorry to read that you have been diagnosed with OC yet again. To hear that you have to go through this alone breaks my heart but you know that you can always rely on your OCF family for support. I have been through OC 3 times in a space of a few months and all I say is that it sucks but I am fighting it with all that I have. You have beaten this disease before and you will again Eileen..wishing you all the very best for the upcoming surgery. Sending you prayers and lots of hugs x

Liza

I'm sorry this is happening to you - thankfully they caught it early - though three times OC and one dance with breast cancer is a bit much! I haven't had the same surgery but I have had the same graft sites. I'm not sure if they are taking skin too or just the artery - if it's just the artery it's not bad - if there's skin too - which it sounds like it might be since they wouldnt be removing skin from the leg otherwise. That's a little more involved - but not horrible - the wrist will be sore for a few weeks - and there will be staples in it to hold it in place - they put me in a cast for 10 days then it was Wrapped in gauze - it was tender for a few weeks and you need to put cream on it so the new skin softens up ( once you can go without a bandage) its ugly but not super painful. The leg is just irritating it's like they took a potato peeler and shaved off layers of skin to cover the arm mess. They generally keep it covered for 8 days then remove the dressing it's scabby like road rash but not bad. They stapled the dressing to my leg - that totally peeved me off! As if I didn't already have enough holes in me!

There's a picture of my wrist on my Facebook page so feel free to friend me and take a look. You'll get through this everyone here will be here to help you - take care!!

Eileen, I am so sorry!!!!!! Its certainly a terrible feeling when you have a recurrence! I wish you all the best with your surgery.

I had a mandibulectomy which took a large piece of my arm muscle, artery and also 3 leg graphs. Not sure if its different between hospitals or between how things are done in the US vs Canada. My arm has a scar that is about 3" wide by 5" long. I had 40 staples in it which hurt like heck! No cast, it was covered with a cool hydrogel type thing then covered with gauze. It was covered for about 3 months.

The graph sites on my legs are what Cheryl described. It was like they took a thin top layer off and used it to help with my arm wound and also on my cheek/neck area. Those were covered with the hydrogel stuff then tegaderm. My visiting nurse would change the dressings every other day. The leg wounds were kept covered for about 3 months too. I cant say which area was the worst, all were very tender and painful.

Overall I was in pretty bad shape from the mandibulectomy, maybe thats why I had all the wounds covered for so long. Even after the 2 month hospital stay, I was sent home when I was still very fragile and weak. The mandibulectomy is a different surgery than what you will be having. So I am hoping what you will go thru will not be anything even close to what I went thru.

Best wishes with everything you are facing!!!! May you have a speedy recovery and no more recurrences.

You are such a great source of information and inspiration Eileen. I will be thinking about you and know you will soon use this new development to help the rest of us. I so wish I were closer, would love to meet you. Take care and keep dreaming about that beach--you'll be sitting there soon!

Eileen,

I am so sorry that you have to go through this again. You go along making adjustments here and there to accommodate the changes thrust upon you. And then you decide that, okay, this is how it will be-- Boom--you get slapped with a new insult. When I look up the word "resilient" in the dictionary, I see your name.

You have the BEST surgeon for this. Of course, I am biased. You will be in very good hands, and in a very good place.

The beach will be there waiting for you when you are ready to venture out again. Hang in there, Eileen. You are going to do fine.

My best to you-
Anita

Hi Eileen,

Life certainly is unfair and you have been given more challenges than most people, and you certainly deserve a break. I�m so sorry you have to go through this again.

I will keep you in my prayers that the surgery goes as planned and that your recovery is swift. I would still plan on heading to the beach sometime this year � definitely will help with healing your mind and morale!

All the best to you. Please keep us posted.

Yes speaking of which... I got out of the hospital... 10 days post op... Booked a flight for me and the family to an all inclusive in Mexico, was on a plane a week later, and laying on the beach! It's a great place to recover especially if there is room service and someone else doing the cooking!!! Good luck!

Thanks for the support guys. I'm going to need it. I'm pretty much alone on this while in hospital. Both my sister and cousin are on vacation. Sister will help for week after I get out and Charlie's sister has volunteered to come down from Massachusetts to help after that. Now my 18 year old kitty is getting sick again. I do not need this now.

Take care,
Eileen