Hello Max,

Wishing you happy times with your parents tomorrow. I will be thinking and praying for you on Monday.

Ina

Prayer Before Surgery:
"Loving God, I entrust Max to your care this day; guide with wisdom and skill the minds and hands of the medical people who will perform Max's surgery. Grant that every cause of illness be removed, I pray that Max may be restored to soundness of health and learn to live in more perfect harmony with you and with those around him. Amen.

thank you so much for your support, Ina

Had my surgery yesterday (tongue and neck dissection). Woke up in the recovery and felt a bit scared lol as remembered they told me i would have two surgeries at the ssame time (tongue and neck) and for some reason thought they have done only tongue and that now there would do the neck) probably i thought so as i didnt feel any pain. They put a lot of local anaerstesia in the areas so there was no pain and i felt very comfortable.

I havent seen my tongue yet as still cant open my mouth propertly and a bit scared to see my new tongue but can feel something is missing:(

They said i kept very well during surgery and appear recovering well. I haven't used my morphin doses which were attached to my hand for self-service but was given some paracetamol instead. So a lot of local anaestesia was a good thing i believe while it was healing.

My parents told me yesterday my speech was the same as before surgery but today feeling more difficult to speak and swallow as feeling a bit sore and uncomfortable.

So glad to hear you pulled up ok Max.

The swelling is always the worst around the 3rd day post surgery so don't get too worried if the swelling is getting in the way of speech - it will get better.

My wife had a similar surgery around a month ago now and she has recovered very well.

Like you, she was young, fit and had no risk factors whatsoever. The up side of this is that recovery tends to be much quicker for those without risk factors & are young so I am sure you'll bounce right back up again in no time!

I'm so glad you did well. I know it's a daunting surgery but it's not terribly painful if you didn't have the added pleasure (sarcasm) of a graft it's even less so. The neck dissection is weird as you really have no pain with it... They cut the nerves usually so it's mostly numbness which is semi permanent - the nerves do regenerate but generally take a long time and probably won't ever fully recover.. Mine is numb and tingley almost 21 months out. If you can - you should do physio as soon as its okay'd by your dr. The dissection effects the shoulder and muscle - therefore your arm, and of course in your neck so your range of motion will be shot to regain these things to almost a hundred percent - you should do mild physio. Congrats on getting through it - hugs!

Hi Max! Thanks for posting your update. The worst time of a surgery is the first few days after the procedure. In a few more days you will feel much better as the swelling begins to go down. Being young you should bounce back so much faster than an older person.

Best wishes with your speedy recovery!!!

Hi max

You got through the surgery and I would say take it slowly. It took me a few weeks to feel comfortable and quite a while before I inspected it. Eat plenty and rest. Are you having chemo or rads or like me both?
I had my treatment in London although I'm in essex.
Keep well and help and advice is always here. I had so much support the guys are brilliant here xxxxxx

Thanks all for the comments!
I wonder what diet should i maintain to make my tongue heal better? Should i eat more proteins like meats to make it heal quicker?

Jane whereabouts in london did you have your treatment?

I dont know yet what my post-surgery treatment would be (if any). They have said anything yet. What should i anticipate? Rad and chemo?

I am going through treatment in cambridge, addebrooke's.

They sayd it was a very early stage cancer. The doc said the tumour was about 15mm. When we discussed the surgery procedure the doc said he would remove the tumour + around 10mm of sorrounging tissue. I havent seen my hole yet.

In the morning before the surgery he said he would try to remove as many lymph nodes from the neck as possible to make sure nothing spreads.

They never mentioned anything about radio.

The docs will do rounds on the ward tomorrow morning. What questions should i ask?

Thanks

Max

I recall they said i could have gone through radio as alternative method of treatment but they would not suggest it to me because of my age. And said surgery should be ebough.

Am i safe?