Eating Question

Dav1965
Dav1965 Member Posts: 132
in Head and Neck Cancer #1
I had squamous cell cancer on the tongue and it was stage 4. I had 2 neck dissections and 95% of my tongue cut off. They used my thigh to replace my tongue. This was in July of 2010. I am supposed to be cancer free now. They removed 8 cancer cells from my neck also. My question is. I can finally start eaating soft stuff. Yesterday i tried to eat for the first time and i can not get the food off of the tongue. It was chicken and stars soup. I can eat broth ok. Thanks for any help. David

Comments

  • soccerfreaks
    soccerfreaks Member Posts: 2,788 Member
    #2
    water
    David, you will find, at first, and maybe for a long, long time, as I have, that everything goes down easier with liquids. I have found, in fact, that carbonated drinks help even more (ginger ale for example or sugar-free soda). I try to 'match' the drink with whatever I am eating, so I will generally drink cold water with dairy products, for example.

    Hope this helps.

    Hope and Humor!

    Take care,

    Joe
  • sweetblood22
    sweetblood22 Member Posts: 3,228
    #3
    soccerfreaks said:

    water
    David, you will find, at first, and maybe for a long, long time, as I have, that everything goes down easier with liquids. I have found, in fact, that carbonated drinks help even more (ginger ale for example or sugar-free soda). I try to 'match' the drink with whatever I am eating, so I will generally drink cold water with dairy products, for example.

    Hope this helps.

    Hope and Humor!

    Take care,

    Joe

    I did not have any part of
    I did not have any part of my tongue removed, only a biopsy under my tongue, and radiation. I do know when I was first trying to eat it was really hard because my tongue did not move around the way it should. I couldn't move the food around to chew it properly. It took a really long time to get it back to semi normal. A lot of practice, keep trying to eat stuff. I am wondering if a speech therapist can give you exercises or something to help you out with eating more normally.

    Good luck.

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