Returning after a long time Nancy H 09-15-2025 06:43 PM
Hi I'm Nancy. I first had tongue cancer in 2001. It was on the tip. It was removed and I had radiation just on my neck for the lymph nodes. In 2016, I had two lumpectomies for breast cancer. Life pretty much went back to normal after those two events. Then in 2018 I had a reoccurrence of tongue cancer near the first one. That time I had a partial glossectomy and heavy radiation to my mouth and neck., This left my mouth severely burned so that even years later I could not eat many foods without the burn. Early this year I had my lower teeth removed (I already had a denture on top) because of the receding gums and constant infections. I knew the risk and yes, I did have a lot of bone loss. I found a denture maker who was able to work with me and although it was going to be at a great expense, I was looking forward to it. Just when my gums were healed enough to start on the dentures, I discovered something at the base of my tongue. It was cancerous and on July 22nd, I had a Free-flap surgery where they took a graft from my arm to replace tissue in my mouth and then another graft from my thigh to cover the exposed area on my arm. I was in the hospital for 19 days with a feeding tube in my nose and a tracheotomy. I am now struggling with the fact that I was not prepared for how life changing this has been. I did not know that the flap would go over my whole tongue and affect my speech and swallowing. My speech and swallow doctor says this is probably my life from now on. At this point I have no teeth in my mouth, and it seems the doctors are discouraging me from getting even an upper denture. The lower is not possible as they had to cut the cancer out through the gums to the bones. I will be on a liquid diet for the rest of my life it seems. I would really like to hear from anyone who may be going through something similar as I really need some encouraging support right now.
