Squamous Carcinoma -- in jaw bone (Left posterior -- mandibular segment)

in two different places and they just transferred them from the first place (which was a joke) to the second place.  The second place wanted all of their own scans done, so I did them again. I had mucoepidermoid carcinoma in my lower L jaw and had 1/4 of my jaw bone removed.  The tumor was IN the bone and they removed the entire lower L side including the hinge.  Mine was replaced with a metal plate and they took tissue from my neck to wrap the plate.  It looks just like normal gums

I wish your father the very best!  I'm in radiation treatments now, 2 weeks left to go!!  I hope the scan results are good and that it's contained to the one area! 

smdoherty said:

THANK YOU so much for taking

THANK YOU so much for taking the time to reply.  I know each case is idividual specific, as well as treatment.  All of this info. is so helpful and englightening.  Thank you for taking the time to reply.

So glad you found us ! Believe me this is the best place for you to be. The people on here are so knowledgable and helpful . I didn't find it until I finished my Radiation tx and it would have been so much better for me if I had . I got so scared after two weeks when I was not feeling any better ! My doctor did not tell me how bad the side effects could be or give me any idea how long they might last ! The people on here were so helpful and encouraging . Wecome to this Board and feel free to ask any questions and someone will reply.

Peggy

Since you are from Texas look into Baylor in Dallas. There is an ENT Lance Oxford who is really great. Not knockin MD Anderson but look into Baylor.

My husband had cancer in his lower jaw last year.  He had a sarcoma, so his radiation was before his surgery.  He did not require chemo.  The surgery was 18 hours, he then had failure of blood flow to the new bone two days later, so he had another surgery to remove the fibula.  That surgery was about 8 hours.  He then had his other fibula used to replace the fibula that failed.  The doctors think that his first flap failure was due to damage from the radiation.  He has had no real complications since.  He had a trach  for two weeks and a feeding tube for about three months.  The radiation was extemely painful and caused him to lose his taste and saliva.  It is extremely important to do the jaw exercises, as radiation damage is forever and continues to damage over time.  Please feel free to message me with any questions.  He is cancer free now and has been back to work full time since May of 2012.  Good luck to you.

My husband had cancer in his lower jaw last year.  He had a sarcoma, so his radiation was before his surgery.  He did not require chemo.  The surgery was 18 hours, he then had failure of blood flow to the new bone two days later, so he had another surgery to remove the fibula.  That surgery was about 8 hours.  He then had his other fibula used to replace the fibula that failed.  The doctors think that his first flap failure was due to damage from the radiation.  He has had no real complications since.  He had a trach  for two weeks and a feeding tube for about three months.  The radiation was extemely painful and caused him to lose his taste and saliva.  It is extremely important to do the jaw exercises, as radiation damage is forever and continues to damage over time.  Please feel free to message me with any questions.  He is cancer free now and has been back to work full time since May of 2012.  Good luck to you.

My husband saw a speech pathologist before beginning radiation, and then after his surgery to introduce solid foods again.  He had a modified barium swallow study prior to radiation, as well.  This was to note any changes after surgery and to have a baseline of his swallow function.  The speech pathologists at his clinic specialized in head and neck cancers and were actually conducting a study to prove the effectiveness of swallowing exercises to reduce the damage done in radiation.  I am also a speech pathologist, so I was able to help somewhat, but my area of speciality is in pediatrics, not head and neck (although, after this experience, I feel like an expert through trial-by-fire).  Basically, during the course of his radiation, he swallowed as much as he could during the day using dry swallows.  He also had to practice opening and closing his mouth for 15-20 reps several times per day.  He was also given 10-15 tongue depressors taped together stacked on top of each other.  He had to put this in his mouth between his upper and lower teeth to stretch out his mouth.  This was hard to do because the radiation causes such pain in the mouth.  This is also when I had to encourage him to do his exercises.  The therapist in me was pushing him, and he finally just looked at me and said "it hurts".  The look on his face was very frustrated and defeated.  At that point I had to just back off and be his wife.  I did purchase a bite block through a company called TAlk Tools that had several plastic pieces that looked like tongue depressors that you could add height to as the patient tolerates.  I did this because I could run this my dishwasher.  After his surgery we resumed using these after the doctor okayed it, I'm not sure how long we waited. 

The protocol with the Head and Neck Specialists he saw were pretty protective of his jaw and flap site when he got home.  He was NPO for at least three weeks after surgery and then was allowed water, and gradually worked up to shakes, pureed foods, and finally solids.  Make sure when your dad comes home from the hospital that you have a suction machine.  Even though my husband's trach tube was taken out before he left the hospital, he was still having bloody clots and mucous that gave him the sensation of choking.  Because he couldn't have water, he had to cough these up, and the suction machine was very important.

Expect several days in ICU after the surgery.  There will be drains and probably a trach.  More than likely, there will be a feeding tube through the nose which may be replaced with a tube in the stomach.  Wound care for the leg will be pretty extensive.  Make sure that your hospital sets you up with home health and they can get the wound care supplies.  The stuff you buy at CVS/Walmart, etc. is terrible and expensive.  Because my husband had both fibulas removed, his wound care supplies were doubled.  

We are now 15 months post surgery and all has returned pretty much  back to normal.  We are trying to get dental implants soon.  This is a good possibility for us since none of the tissue in his jaw has been radiated.  This is one good thing that came out of doing radiation first and surgery second.  With a sarcoma this was an option; I'm not sure about with a SCC.  Please message me if you have any other questions.