Cancer

blitzbob`
blitzbob` Member Posts: 17
edited March 2014 in Head and Neck Cancer #1
Has anyone on this site regretted the tradional treatment they have recieved or has everyone managed to adapt to the awful side effects of oral cancer

Comments

  • leapdaymom
    leapdaymom Member Posts: 10
    I had a hemi-glossectomy with flap reconstruction with the muscle and artery from my forearm. I also had a radical neck dissection. I think that this was the best way to go. The scars look terrible now but i am only two months out from surgery but.. I am cancer free and need no chemo or radiation. So that is a good thing!
    Julie
  • barbaraycs
    barbaraycs Member Posts: 3
    I have been diagnosed with low grade mucoepidermoid on the back of tongue. I found it myself. Head & neck surgeon at Scripps (San Diego) did the biopsy. Clean margins couldn't be confirmed except on the deep biopsy. They wanted to follow up with more surgery, radiation, or both. Everything I have researched says for low grade no radiation, only surgery. Went up to UCLA to consult with them. They want to do a massive surgery through my neck removing part of my tongue and reconstructing by grafts from other parts of my body. I have a second consult with UCSD in a couple of weeks. UCLA recommendation seems extreme and excessive. I am only 53 and in excellent health, never smoked, etc., exercise all the time, and no cancer in the family. I read your 5-28 posting but nothing since. Can you enlighten me re your further experiences with this?
  • barbaraycs
    barbaraycs Member Posts: 3

    I had a hemi-glossectomy with flap reconstruction with the muscle and artery from my forearm. I also had a radical neck dissection. I think that this was the best way to go. The scars look terrible now but i am only two months out from surgery but.. I am cancer free and need no chemo or radiation. So that is a good thing!
    Julie

    Your treatment sounds exactly like what UCLA suggested for me. My mucoepidermoid is on tongue posterior and is low grade, well-differentiated. My biopsy unfortunately did not give clean margins but deep biopsy did. This surgery seems extreme but I want to avoid radiation at any cost. How are your scars looking now?