Good morning.

I had a right partial glossectomy and neck dissection performed 8 days ago. I have been home from hospital for 5 days now and am having some questions.

First, I still have some moderate tongue and neck swelling. I assume this is normal, but am wondering how long it will take for these symptoms to resolve? Id be interested in the experience of others.

Second, the entire right side of my tongue is numb. It has not seemed to improve at all since the surgery. Not too much pain, but completely numb. Unable to taste anything on that half of the tongue either. Is this normal and how long should it be before the tongue numbness resolves and the taste return? Is it permanent?

Finally my tongue is having a tough time pointing to the right side, which has affected my speech. mostly trouble with the letter s, t, and other sounds that require the tip of tongue to touch the roof of my mouth. Again, is this pretty normal at 8 days out?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much,

Dan

Dan, welcome to OCF! You have found a great resource to help you get thru this rough spell.

After having the glossectomy 8 days ago, swelling and numbness are completely normal. Most patients will have their swelling subside in a few weeks. If I had to pinpoint a timeframe, I would say expect to see significant improvement in about 4-6 weeks. It takes a long time to completely heal from this type of major surgery. As the swelling goes down you will also notice the other side effects dissipate. If you havent already sought out a speech pathologist, I would suggest you make an appointment. They will be able to help you with your speech and any other issues you may experience. I would also seek out a physical therapist to help with any range of motion issues you may have with the neck dissection.

Will you be having any other treatment?

Hi Christine,

Thank you for the quick response.

At this point, I am not sure if I will need any additional treatment. The decision will be based upon path results from my neck dissection. I should have those results by early March. I remain hopeful that I caught this early enough to avoid any chemo and radiation. At this point, I'm just trying to take this one day at a time. The news has been a lot harder to digest than I ever could have imagined.

Glad to find these forums. They are a great resource for information and support.

Dan

Welcome Dan,

I'm wondering if they tested or will be testing for HPV positivity, which is best prognostic factor they have at this time. Not sure where you're being treated, but hopefully it's at one of the top cancer centers who deal with this disease often, and finally, the pathology is usually back by now, and will give, hopefully a tumor board, further information for your treatment. With base of tongue, which is part of the oropharynx, has deep musculature, and can be difficult to treat, and would opt for Chemoradiation for myself.

Good luck

Thanks for the information Paul. I am being treated at Memorial Sloan Kettering in NYC. Inter-opretative pathology looked good, but when I was discharged from the hospital I was told that the pathology for the nodes were still pending. That seemed reasonable since my surgery was performed on the Friday of a holiday weekend.

I spoke with the office and the node pathology results will not be provided to me until my follow up visit on 02 March. I will definitely ask about HPV too. My initial biopsy (prior to surgery) was not evaluated for HPV (to my knowledge).

Thanks for the insight and I will definitely follow up on the HPV.

Dan

I'm glad to hear you're being treated at MSKCC, and are in good hands. I'm in NYC also, and was treated in just about every hospital, except this one, but am familiar with it. If and when you're up to it, MSK has a head and neck cancer support group, I think called, "Moving Forward" that meets every month, as well as three other hospitals, Beth Israel, NYU and Mt. Sinai, who have SPOHNC, Support for People with Oral and Head and Neck Cancer, meetings that also meet every month, and NYU twice a month, in addition too, being active here, I attend some, and find both beneficial.

https://www.spohnc.org/local_chapters.php

https://www.mskcc.org/experience/living-beyond-cancer/upcoming-programs