New to CSN....Bimmerknut

phrannie51

We have a new member, and I copied and pasted his story here so he could have a thread that was less than 5 years old.

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I officially became a member of this club two weeks ago when I was diagnosed with Level 1 Squamous. A few notable and relatable things are that I am a 60-year old man. Okay, TOMORROW I will be 60. I am a survivor of non-hodgkins lymphoma as of 2006. I quit smoking in 1991 and to say I drink alcohol lightly is putting it mildly. I rarely drink and when I do it's one or two and almost always to accomodate a meal.

I also have Barrett's Esophagitis and it IS relvant to my story, so that is where I'll begin. I was diagnosed with Barrett's in 1997. The short of it is I lose 80% of the food I eat. When that food comes back up, so do the stomach acids. Those stomach acids have over the years eaten the enamel on my teeth and I've lost a handful. In the past year, I've been working with a very good dentist to perform root canals and use crowns to save the teeth that I can and then go to dentures.

About four months ago, I while we were doing a root canal, I mentioned that my tongue was becoming irritated on the side by a sharp portion of tooth. She ground the sharp edges of a tooth and it was better. Another month later and I was still having problems. We tried to grind again. Suddenly a callous/lesion formed and become very thick and constantly painful. Everything to do with my mouth hurt. Eating, swallowing, chewing, spitting, talking, sucking on a straw and even lying in bed on that same side. This chronic pain had led to sleep deprivation and utter fatigue and exhaustion. I'm disabled through a back injury but I'm in my senior year at my local university and it has greatly affected my ability to study, read and take part in oral presentations.

My dentist finally referred me to an ENT doctor who took a biopsy and the result has landed me in your club of people sharing what thier experiences are. Treatment is set for surgery on June 6th. He is going to remove a football-shaped portion of my tongue and have it set to the lab while I'm still sedated to make sure he gets it all. I'm okay with all of this! But, the pain has also been deep down near my jaw-bone and I have very mild but frequent ear-aches. I'm fearing that it has gone into my lynph nodes. I'm also fearing that the spot on my jaw, below my tongue cannot be exised and that would mean chemo and radiation. My oyhrt bout with cancer was in my ukpper groin. Getting chemo and radiation in the head and neck area frankly leaves me unneasy.

I'm still sleep-deprived every night. It's wearing me down. I'm a HUGELY optimistic person and I know that God HAS me in this! My faith is immense! Even that being said, there is a certain amount of depression that has crept in slowly. I know that it is not clinical depression, but depression nonetheless from sheer exhaustion.

Normally, most people would apologize for being long-winded, but I am a creative writing major and I take certain prides in that. So without boring you all further, I'd be very pleased to hear your comments and associations. Also, is there anything that any of you do at home that has helped the discomfort? Heat packs? Cold packs? Salt-water rinses? I'm pretty stuck to soft foods as chewing is now a chore due to the pain and the lack of most of my teeth which are used for mastication.

Thanks all for plundering through my post. I pray you all recieve the Grace of swift and complete healing!

~Bim

phrannie51

Nevermind

I didn't see that he'd already done it.