Update on operation

Sue22

Hello friends,

I just wanted to give you an update on how Carmen's operation went. It went well considering what it is about. The opereration went on for a couple of hours. Oh my........we had no idea of the extend of this operation. We thought he was removing a little bit (2 cms by 4). Poor Carmen, she was in shock when she saw her tongue from her hospital bed. Even myself I didn't think it would be that much. It has been hard for her since the 10th of Jan.

She is wondering if she will talk the same. She needs her voice for her job. She was happy to see that she could taste but not too happy that her right side of the tongue is numb. They didn't cut her lingual nerve but they ''touched'' it. They say it should be back to normal soon enough after a while. She finds it hard to swallow and she is not sure where her pills are just before she swallows them.

Today has been 8 days and this morning her spirit was much better. Time heals all wounds they say. This is a big physical and mental wound. She has to be patient and get lots of rest.

Her appointment to get her biopsy's results is next Monday the 23rd. Hope they got it all but we shall see. Hopefully she will not need radiation therapy. She will find out about speech therapy as well.

Anything you suggest she asks the doctor while she is there? I feel like I do all the talking there and the doctor doesn't say much unless I ask. Last time I had to ask him the stage of her cancer as he never told us before.

Thank you for listening and I hope you are all doing well. Sue

longtermsurvivor

the tongue is half paralyzed now
If they had to stretch the nerve, it will take awhile for function to return. Probably a handful of days, but maybe quite a bit longer. Right now also, there will be a log of swelling that interferes with proper tongue function. That will get better too.

Wishing for her a favorable pathology report. Its always wise to have a wait and see attitude toward these things.

Pat

Skiffin16

Think Big Picture
I know it's hard at the moment, but think of the big picture....

She is alive, and more than likely will be for several years.

The other things, while yes annoying and definitely something that she'll need to learn to live with and adjust..they are small relatively speaking.

Hopefully with any luck and a lot of faith, positive thinking and prayer. Her current residual damage will only be temporary as it has been for many of us.

Best,
John

Marty36

Speech
Speech has always been one of my greatest anxieties. I've had three tongue surgeries (the most recent one right after Christmas) and my experience is that once you get more movement in your tongue, speech improves. Three week after my latest surgery, my biggest speech challenge is excess mucus/thick saliva and not necessarily articulation. I have to talk slower and concentrate on articulating words, but I've returned to work and even recently led a 1.5 hour meeting without anyone saying they couldn't understand what i was saying. She also needs to just continue to talk, when she can, because it exercises the tongue.

In terms of swallowing pills, I've wrestled with that this time too. At first, they kept getting caught in the back of my tongue because I couldn't get the swallowing to happen. Last night--a week after getting a pill "stuck" in my throat--I was able to swallow four pills at once with a swallow of water. It's amazing how quickly your tongue can get back to work.

jim and i

Praying for good results on
Praying for good results on Monday

Debbie

braziliangirl82

Marty36 said:

Speech
Speech has always been one of my greatest anxieties. I've had three tongue surgeries (the most recent one right after Christmas) and my experience is that once you get more movement in your tongue, speech improves. Three week after my latest surgery, my biggest speech challenge is excess mucus/thick saliva and not necessarily articulation. I have to talk slower and concentrate on articulating words, but I've returned to work and even recently led a 1.5 hour meeting without anyone saying they couldn't understand what i was saying. She also needs to just continue to talk, when she can, because it exercises the tongue.

In terms of swallowing pills, I've wrestled with that this time too. At first, they kept getting caught in the back of my tongue because I couldn't get the swallowing to happen. Last night--a week after getting a pill "stuck" in my throat--I was able to swallow four pills at once with a swallow of water. It's amazing how quickly your tongue can get back to work.

Hi marty
Why did u had 3 tongue surgeries?
What stage were u?

sweetblood22

Update
Sue, thank you for the update on Carmen. Sending wishes for healing quickly. Will keep you both in my thoughts.

tommyodavey

sweetblood22 said:

Update
Sue, thank you for the update on Carmen. Sending wishes for healing quickly. Will keep you both in my thoughts.

Upbeat
Sue, keep the optimism going. As the saying goes: "Time Heals All Wounds". It may or may not be true in her case but I would think it will get better.

I just had a neck dissection and my tongue doesn't work right. Some words come out funny and I'm paralyzed on my right side. My doctor said the same thing you already read, that he stretched the nerve and it will take time to get back to normal. I have full confidence I will be almost the same in a year from now.

She may even need some speech therapy but cross that bridge if it comes up later. Keep her thinking positive.

Wishing the best,

Tommy

Marty36

braziliangirl82 said:

Hi marty
Why did u had 3 tongue surgeries?
What stage were u?

I had one surgery using
I had one surgery using robotic technology to remove the main tumor, which was very small but in a bad location. My second surgery was mainly a neck dissection for a lymph node, but they also took a little more margin. After those, another hot spot appeared near the primary tumor on the post-surgical scans. After radiation/chemo on my neck, the spot was still there so they removed more tongue to get rid of that small tumor. That was last month.

I don't mean to be too coy, but I don't really talk in stages and my doctors have said that the disease staging is very misleading in some ways. That said, both of my tumors were T1 or maybe the lower end of T2.

Sue22

tommyodavey said:

Upbeat
Sue, keep the optimism going. As the saying goes: "Time Heals All Wounds". It may or may not be true in her case but I would think it will get better.

I just had a neck dissection and my tongue doesn't work right. Some words come out funny and I'm paralyzed on my right side. My doctor said the same thing you already read, that he stretched the nerve and it will take time to get back to normal. I have full confidence I will be almost the same in a year from now.

She may even need some speech therapy but cross that bridge if it comes up later. Keep her thinking positive.

Wishing the best,

Tommy

Tks sooo much
Yes thank you guys for your kind words of encouragment. I will pass them on to her. It will bring her up. Although today she was doing much better spirit wise. She is strong...............stronger than me I think

You are a great bunch. Have an awesome evening. Sue