Can those who have had a partial glossectomy give me some feedback on their experience? My husband's SCC is on the right anterior of his tongue. We were told at his consultation that surgery is better to treat SCC when it's on the front portion of the tongue rather than the base of the tongue (which responds better to chemo and radiation). I am concerned about his ability to regain speech functionality. He relies HEAVILY on oral communication due to other medical conditions, including legal blindness and cerebral palsy. What treatment alternatives are out there?

I was hoping that someone who had theirs on the base of tongue would answer as their experiences are probably more similar to your husband's situation.

I had a partial glossectomy, but my tumour was on the side of my tongue & off of the floor of the mouth. They performed the radial forearm free flap surgery on me (along with a neck dissection). Then about 5 or 6 weeks after surgery I had 5 weeks of radiation. No chemo in my case.

My speech is somewhat affected. Most people can understand most of what I say, but some words give me problems. Particularly those with the same letter back to back. Occasionally I will try to say a particular word & be unable to pronounce it adequately, so have to pause and come up with a different word with a similar meaning.

Im very sorry I missed your post! I havent had the surgery you are describing but Ive read hundreds of posts about it. One thing Ive learned over the years is that every single patient is different. Its next to impossible to compare what 2 patients experience even if they have the exact same diagnosis. Each patient has their own individual immune system and medical history all of which can play a major role in how they react to surgery, rads, chemo, recovery, medications, etc.

The most important thing the doctors need to do is to eliminate the cancer. I completely understand how important it is to be understood and speech impediments can be extremely difficult to live with. I had a good friend who is no longer with us who lived for several years using an ipad with type to talk function (Speak it). She was able to even use the telephone with this app. Theres also texting as another way to easily communicate if speech is affected. My friends voice was taken when her voice box was removed due to recurrent OC.

As far as treatments go, the only ways to eliminate OC for good are thru surgery or radiation with or without chemo. Alone, chemo is only used for palliative care, it will not work on killing the cancer. All these treatments come with their own set of side effects with possible long term and after care issues. Heres a link to the main OCF site, this will help explain everything in more detail.

Best wishes!!!

OCF Main --- Treatments

Hi, I'm sorry to hear about your husband's diagnosis. I had almost the same Dx, SCC on the left anterior bottom surface of my tongue in April 2016. I had a partial glossectomy and left arm radial forearm free flap reconstructive surgery, plus lymph nodes removed from the left side of my neck. It was very difficult to speak for a few days after surgery, but for me and most patients I know who have gone through the same or similar surgery, I was able to speak well enough so people could understand me within a month or so. At least, SIRI could understand me!

The surgery makes your tongue swell, and the surgeons also make the reconstructed tongue flap a little larger than it should be just in case you need to have RT, which can cause the tongue tissue to shrink. In my case the RT slightly shrank my tongue flap enough so that I didn't need further surgery to reduce the size (although I'm doubtful if I would have chosen to do that, because 1 tongue surgery was enough for me!).

It's now been about 6 months since my surgery and 3 months post RT, and many people who hear me speaking and don't know about my surgery and RT, tell me that they couldn't tell the difference in my speech. I do have difficulty pronouncing some sounds, but for the most part am understandable. My husband tells me that I have always mumbled, so there is not much noticeable difference, LOL.

Best wishes to your husband in his treatments!

It is so comforting to hear that others have experienced what I am slated for in the next week.I am to have half my tongue removed because of cancer and I donot know the outcome,but upon reading these reports I am encouraged to learn that I will have a good chance to able to still speak reasonably well.This is a re occurring cancer for the 3rd time
Gary K

Welcome to the forum, Gary. I'm sorry that you are in need of treatment once again. As you have found, many of our members have walked the path before and their experience is of great value to those who come after.

To help us to get you know a little better, could you consider go to "Introduce Yourself' and do an introductory post?