In Febuary my husband had 60% of his tongue removed, radical neck dissection and a flap done. He also had 30 radiation treatments. Now 4 months later his jaw (where they cut to get to the area) has not healed. He has exposed bone, and nerves in that jaw area. Where the doc cut the jaw bone also has not grown back together. We went to an oral surgeon yesterday and he said he needs surgery (bone graft) to fix this. Went to our ENT today he is sending us to University of Michigan for a second opinion. I was wondering if anyone has had this same problem. The ENT said in his ten years of doing cancer surgery, my husband is only the 2nd one that he has seen this happen to. My husband also had an infection in that area which the ENT said can effect the healing process.

I would also like to say if it weren't for ALL of you and this site, I would have not made it through these last 4 months. You are all so very kind and give me the feeling of hope. I wish I could write better and I could do what all of you do to help others. I come to this site at least 3 times a day, and belive me it helps me more than any of you know. This site is my therapy.
Thanks to all,
Cheryl

Hello Cheryl,
I went through a similar situation after Radiation. I had exposed bone and nerves in the jaw area where they had removed teeth. As well as one infection after another in the bone. In fact I spent one whole summer at the hospital receiving IV antibiotics 3 times daily. They tried Hyperbaric treatments which only seemed to slow the necrosis down. The jaw bone died over a period of time and eventually broke and had to be replaced. To let you know how fragile the jaw had become, when it broke I was blowing my nose. The replacement went very smoothly and healed together properly. They had to increase the blood flow to the new bone with an artery taken from my leg. This is where the bone came from as well. Once they were sure that the new artery had taken I was allowed to go home. Once again I spent time at the hospital in Hyperbarics and receiving IV antibiotics. I have one area on the other side of my mouth that still has some exposed bone. They do not want to touch that one as of yet. Thank goodness it does not bother me all the time.
If you have any other questions just ask I will try and help if I can.
David