Hello, I'm Carol and new to this forum although not new to oral/neck cancer. I reside in Edmonton, Alberta and one year ago underwent surgery for tonsil cancer, floor of my mouth and unfortuately a cyst in my left neck as well.

The surgery was 14 1/2 hours long and very invasive - the surgeon removed the cancer and replaced the section in my mouth with a flap from my left arm (artery and vein) so I would not require reconstructive surgery. Worked wonderfully. I had 31 radiation treatments to my face and neck - was off work for 10 months during the surgery, radiation - lost weight (which I needed to do). Anyhow, the prognosis is excellent and I'm feeling great.

I have few residual side effects from the surgery - left side of my tongue is "numb", a bit of difficulty swollowing but aside from those symptoms doing great.

Follow up with our local cancer centre is every two months for at least two years.

I look forward to hearing from others who may have had as radical surgery as I.

Hi Carol and welcome to the board. My husband had stage IV tonsil cancer, but did not have as radical a surgery as yours was. He has been cancer free for four years! I am sure there will be plenty boardmembers that can relate to your surgery.

Hi Carol
Welcome to the forum...
I'm six weeks out from 10 hours of similar surgery, graft to my tonsil area and the base of my tongue.. Got an infection in my arm, one of these MRSA bugs, took some strong IV antibitotics to kill it but my arm is now healing and my trachy site has almost closed. No radiation or chemo, but will need monthly checks. I had previously had two bouts of laser surgery but they couldn't get clear margins. At the moment the whole of the left side of my head is numb, I presume from the nerves in my neck being cut, but if that's what it takes I can live with that. I have lost my taste buds for sweet things, UM maybe not a bad thing, just waiting now to have my peg removed. So I guess we have a lot to be thankful for in the skill of the surgeons, every day looks good to me girl...
Sunshine... love and hugs
Helen

Carol, Welcome to the site. My treatment was similar, though not as extensive. Had a tonsilectomy, then 35 rad and 3 chemo treatments scheduled every 21 days, then modified right neck dissection to remove about 30 lymph nodules in 5 lymph nodes. Rad and chemo started 1/5/04 and surgery done 5/04/04. I'm pretty well recovered from treatments, though my rad doctor said 2 years until all of the rad issues are resolved. Am in physical therapy for my right shoulder to fix the muscle problems from the surgery and lack of use thereafter. Dry mouth issues, of course, and some dental things I need to take care of, but generally, 7 months out from rad/chemo, and 4 months from surgery and 3 hurricanes later and things are OK. Just now starting to gain weight back from all of the treatments. Just had my first post treatment CT scans, chest x-ray, annual physical and all is in the good zone. Blood shows that I am anemic so they put me back on Procrit to build the blood back up, but that's no big deal. All in all, everything clear and doing good. Praise God. Will keep you in my prayers.

Good Afternoon - Great to hear from everyone - I attended a Retreat for Head, Neck Cancer patients on Saturday and everyone was so positive.

I too thank God everyday for being alive - Life is great and we are so blessed to have such skilled health care personnel

Hi my name is Lisa,I am Carol's daughter and this experience has been very scary for my brothers and I, we were so shocked when we all got the phone call that our healthy non-smoker mom had cancer. We had lost our dad 4 years before all this to cancer as well and we were all very scared of what we were facing. When we saw mom right after the surgery it was very overwelming.
We have had a very positive experience if you can say that about this journey. It was a long scary road and I know she tired to protect us from as much as she could, but to look at her now you would never know this has happened. Her scars are minimal and her speech is great. And she looks so healthy I hope everyone has a positive outcome like she has.
As I look back to what we were faceing one year ago and where we are now I am thankful for everyday.

Hi Lisa
My Mom had the same situation as you, I had tried to shield her but I think the shock of seeing me in ITU the night after the surgery nearly freaked her out and she's 80, so as a family you all did well.. So although I'm sorry you had to join us, welcome...
Sunshine... love and hugs
Helen

Hi Helen
Thank you for the warm welcome, when we saw mom we were not expecting what we saw, i'm not sure what we thought we would see, I can't imagine what my brothers went through, they saw her the next day i came in to hte city 2 days later and it was aweful.
In one sense I think this has made my brothers and I much closer if we had lost mom we would only have each other, we have aunts and uncles and a grandma but we would have had to depend on each other so much. this has brought the whole family closer we have always been close but now ..........
I'm glad you are doing well now and hope that it has been a fairly easy road for you. As easy as this aweful time is it sounds like you had good support as well. I think that is half the battle support and your own mind set.
I think my mom has done so well because she has never really thought what if? It was always ok I'm going to beat this thing lets get on with it, what do I have to do next? Her positive outlook was a saving grace for us all, she is such a strong lady I'm not sure I would have been able to go through what she has and be where she is now happy, healthy and back to work. She amazes me everyday and maybe I don't say it enough but I am very proud of her.
Lisa