Any mid 20 year olds??

MIgal24

hey y'all!!

I was 23 when I was diagnosed in 2020, I am finished with treatment and am now 24!! This may sound odd, but I Was curious if their were any other 20 something year olds on here that were looking for a cancer friend?!

I feel like I haven't really been able to relate to many people in my life lately, which has caused me to feel isolated in a way?? Not sure if anyone is feeling the same way!!

You can read my about me page and reach out or comment:)

 

wbcgaruss

Hello Jess

And welcome to the forum.
As you realize along with you and all of us on here we found this site and ended up here not by choice but by cancer's intrusion on our lives.
I have read your member page and I am sorry that you got such exposure to H&N cancer and treatment at such a young age.
I can tell from your page that you have not let this get you down and that takes some doing considering what you went through.
I can see your fiance, family, and your overall joy in living have kept you positive.
As far as I know, you are the youngest on here but we sincerely welcome you.
I think that you will probably not find the age connection on here but when it comes to H&N cancer or any cancer for that matter has the same effect on us all no matter what age we are so there is the disease connection and the connection of treatment such as chemo and rads that the majority on here have gone through and the after affects that so many of us deal with.
Cancer doesn't discriminate it includes all ages, races, and many other categories people fall into.
No matter what age we share many things on here no matter what age you are and there is a variety of ages on here.

So please stay with us, we are glad to have you but sorry about what brought you here.
So welcome again but before I go on and on there are several things I would like to tell you.
One is to take a look at the Super Thread at the top of the page of the H&N section as it is loaded with valuable info from many sources and I believe put together completely from folks on here in association with CSN admins.
Another thing is there is a chat that you may want to check out and it is always a welcome place to find support.
Also on the top right of the page is CSN help which is all about this site and how to use it.
You can private message members on here if you ever feel the need to.
And we have a saying on here NEGU (Never Ever Give Up) but I needn't tell you because you've already "been there done that".
And here is the story of Jeannie Hooper, a story I have saved because she is like you and was very young and pregnant when she had to go through a difficult oral cancer situation.
She had teeth removed, the floor of her mouth rebuilt and more than half of my tongue replaced, and like you remained positive and she tells her story, a very inspiring story.

https://www.mdanderson.org/cancerwise/squamous-cell-carcinoma-oral-cancer-survivor-half-of-my-tongue-is-gone--but-i-couldn-t-be-happier.h00-159302256.html

 

And here is another page from Jeannie Hopper with more info being her Cancerwise Blog https://www.mdanderson.org/cancerwise.dir.html/author/Jeannie%20Hopper

So Jess we are here to help in any way we can and I think most people's goals on here are to give hope, compassion, strength, courage, and to make the next person's journey just a little bit easier because of our experiences.

Wishing You The Best-Take Care-God Bless-Russ

 

MIgal24

wbcgaruss said:

Hello Jess

And welcome to the forum.
As you realize along with you and all of us on here we found this site and ended up here not by choice but by cancer's intrusion on our lives.
I have read your member page and I am sorry that you got such exposure to H&N cancer and treatment at such a young age.
I can tell from your page that you have not let this get you down and that takes some doing considering what you went through.
I can see your fiance, family, and your overall joy in living have kept you positive.
As far as I know, you are the youngest on here but we sincerely welcome you.
I think that you will probably not find the age connection on here but when it comes to H&N cancer or any cancer for that matter has the same effect on us all no matter what age we are so there is the disease connection and the connection of treatment such as chemo and rads that the majority on here have gone through and the after affects that so many of us deal with.
Cancer doesn't discriminate it includes all ages, races, and many other categories people fall into.
No matter what age we share many things on here no matter what age you are and there is a variety of ages on here.

So please stay with us, we are glad to have you but sorry about what brought you here.
So welcome again but before I go on and on there are several things I would like to tell you.
One is to take a look at the Super Thread at the top of the page of the H&N section as it is loaded with valuable info from many sources and I believe put together completely from folks on here in association with CSN admins.
Another thing is there is a chat that you may want to check out and it is always a welcome place to find support.
Also on the top right of the page is CSN help which is all about this site and how to use it.
You can private message members on here if you ever feel the need to.
And we have a saying on here NEGU (Never Ever Give Up) but I needn't tell you because you've already "been there done that".
And here is the story of Jeannie Hooper, a story I have saved because she is like you and was very young and pregnant when she had to go through a difficult oral cancer situation.
She had teeth removed, the floor of her mouth rebuilt and more than half of my tongue replaced, and like you remained positive and she tells her story, a very inspiring story.

https://www.mdanderson.org/cancerwise/squamous-cell-carcinoma-oral-cancer-survivor-half-of-my-tongue-is-gone--but-i-couldn-t-be-happier.h00-159302256.html

 

And here is another page from Jeannie Hopper with more info being her Cancerwise Blog https://www.mdanderson.org/cancerwise.dir.html/author/Jeannie%20Hopper

So Jess we are here to help in any way we can and I think most people's goals on here are to give hope, compassion, strength, courage, and to make the next person's journey just a little bit easier because of our experiences.

Wishing You The Best-Take Care-God Bless-Russ

 

Thank you Russ!

I appreciate the warm welcome Russ!

I won't be leaving despite not finding the age connection! I took a look at the thread and found tons of info. I like to have as many resources as possible. Especially being so young it gives me a good idea of possible things to expect as I heal and move forward.

Thank you for your response

LitlCJdoll

MIgal24 said:

Thank you Russ!

I appreciate the warm welcome Russ!

I won't be leaving despite not finding the age connection! I took a look at the thread and found tons of info. I like to have as many resources as possible. Especially being so young it gives me a good idea of possible things to expect as I heal and move forward.

Thank you for your response

Hi Jessie

Hey,

Welcome to the forum here, although its where no one really wants to be.

Okay, ...My surgeon also had to suture down flat, my reconstructed tongue Flap, then cover the holes he had to cut from it and to cover the deep hole ( 2 centimeters down) which exposed bone in floor of my mouth .  He sutured the Flap down flat, to the inside of my bottom lip. To cover those holes in floor of mouth and also to cover the holes he had to cut from the Flap in self.  

When he told my mother what he did, for the life of her she could not envision it .   Its crazy, isn't it?!

Jessie, I honestly do not remember what # surgery this one was. I have had Many. Many. It was because I grew a New Primary SqCC Tumor, 9 months after my radiation treatments. The thing grew so fast... It began in Floor of mouth, went Deep, but to his dismay it also grew up into my tongue Flap. 

My flap had already been cut to pieces by many recurrent tumors.... He Excised my front floor of mouth, left to right.  Note: this on top of the Rim Mandibullectomy to front and right jaw bone, and also extensive surgeries to lower Lip, to remove invasive tumors there. He could not get clear margins there...

Anyway,  my tongue flap is mostly Gone now, leaving huge holes so big I can put my pinky finger down into them.  My surgeon acknowledge recently that my Flap is mostly gone. Disappeared.

It was tired of it all and left... I guess. 

Speech?  Yeah, that's effected when one has no tongue , no function.

My strong hope is that you are at a Comprehensive Cancer Center/ School of Medicine like I am.  I am hoping your Team is coming up with future plans to keep you functional and enable you to do the best you can in the workplace.  I am betting they have these goals, because you are young and ambitious .

Are you now able to eat well enough to keep your weight acceptable ?  Is your swallow function okay?  See, when they suture the tongue ( flap) down, it renders it useless in helping us swallow and therefore Aspirating into your Airway becomes the dangerous problem. When we cannot control the bolus of food or liquid, it can " spillover" and enter the Trachea.  My flap was sutured to the inside of my bottom lip.  That is, until it disappeared .  Very odd.  Nothing surprises me, anymore.

 

Again, welcome and I'm hoping you have a good cutting edge Team and Cancer Center.

 

Crystal ?

 

Duggie88

Mlgal24

I would venture to say it may be hard to find someone around the same age as you. I had that alone feeling but mainly during treatment when everyone else around me progressed in life while I felt I was standing still and all alone. Life is different now but the main thing that bothered me was my voice. I lost my Barry White (low basey) voice and it became much higher pitched after surgery and radiation and when I got excited it became even higher. I hated it especially being in Teamster office my voice, I felt was part of my trademark. When an employer got mad and started yelling I was ALWAYS able to out yell them . I did some public speaking to gain my confidence and basically found out that people who didn't know me before just thought this was my normal voice. That was eleven years ago. On here, you can find people who went through the same and you can compare notes to eleviate that alone feeling. As you know, unless you've gone through what we have, others haven't a clue how to relate to it. Your journey is still fresh yet don't isolate yourself, you still fit in, just with a few changes. A good friend who once was on this sight quite a bit said we are abinormal. I theory enjoy being abinormaal

Enjoy the day..........I do........every one of them

Jeff

Logan51

24?

Does a 25 year-old state of mind count, Mlgal?...oh, to be young again...