Hello Louise777 and thanks for your post,

I am sorry to hear about your situation. Hopefully you will have heard from the hospital by now. Do get in touch with the department if not. If you have a specialist nurse do talk to them about the pain and when you are likely to have your surgery. They are often out and about in the hospital so do leave them a message on their answering machine.

You will probably have a pre-assessment appointment before your surgery and it is important that you are able to talk to the nurses about your concerns. I am sure you will be closely monitored after the surgery and the doctors will do their best to get on top of any pain that you are having.

I would also get in touch with your GP to arrange some stronger pain medication to get you through the next few days.

I can understand that eating may be a problem do try and make sure that you are adequately hydrated trying to drink sips of fluid throughout the day and any nutritional drinks that you can manage.

We have a page on our website about ideas for high calorie drinks

We have more information about how treatment decisions for mouth cancer are made.

You may be interested about reading about a charity called Swallows Head and Neck Charity. They have a huge amount of support and information on patients going through this type of surgery. They also run conferences where patients can get involved (if they want to)

I do hope some of these links may be helpful.

Do get back to us if you need any more information. I hope that you know more about your appointment soon.

If you want to ring us the helpline number is Freephone 0808 800 4040 and the lines are open Monday to Friday 9 am to 5 pm.

All the very best,

Catherine