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Mouth Cancer and surgery

BillyBobDingo
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Hi

My dad (74) was diagnosed with cancer in the soft palette under his tongue in 2015.  From the end of Spring into Summer he underwent radiotherapy, which he handled very well, and in september was told he was all clear.  Ultrasound of glands in his neck was good too.  Then at the end of November he was told the cancer was back.  He had a biopsy which hasn't yet healed and we are meeting the surgeon tomorrow.

The surgery sounds brutal.  Has anyone been in this situation but avoided surgery? 

Any help and advice will be invaluable.

Thanks

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    Hi BillyBobDingo - I'm really sorry to hear about your Dad.

    I had a different cancer but also head & neck area and had a few operations.

    I had the tumor removed from my neck, then tonsilectomy, base of tongue excisional biopsy and a left sided neck dissection of around 35 lymph nodes.

    What surgery are they planning? My experience was I recovered really well, but your Dad's might be a bit different as it is in a different location in his mouth.

    Best regards

    Leo

  • Offline in reply to leos23

    Hi Leo

    Thanks for your response.  It sounds like you've been through the mangle with your cancer.

    For my dad they are planning to remove the soft palette under his tongue and maybe part of his tongue.  I'm not sure about his lower gums.  We are going to the hospital just now to find everything out.  They mentioned removing lymph nodes to prevent it spreading.

    After all that you've been through I hope yours stays defeated.

    Thanks

     

    Billy

  • Offline in reply to BillyBobDingo

    Hi Billy

    Thanks for the well wishes - 5 years out and officially 'cured' in 10 weeks so nearly there!

    The thing about Head & Neck is the recovery rate is good generally as its quite easily spotted a lot of the time, but the treatment can be at the harder end of any cancers because of all the collateral damage to areas we use so much to eat etc. My doctor actually did all the operations to spare me the radiation - if your Dad has got through Head & Neck radiation well, then he is a tough cookie!

    I'm not sure about the soft palette operation but if they are talking about removing lymph nodes then it will probably be a neck dissection. Honestly, having had one of those I think it sounds worse than it is - I had a rather impressive scar from my ear to my Adam's Apple (a picture of which I keep to scare the kids when they are misbehaving!) but you can't even see it now. It really just left me with a 'tuggy' feeling in my neck but it doesn't stop me doing anything at all - I play football, golf etc. with no impediments.

    The biggest thing with a neck dissection is there are a lot of nerves in the side of the neck that control the shoulder area, so its a delicate operation not damaging them and some people have difficulty with their shoulder afterwards. You have to do exercises as quickly as you can to help with the healing but I only had a litttle bit of stiffness. I did also have a bit of my tongue taken out and that really hurt like hell for a week or so - it was like glass in my mouth, but its short term in the grand scheme of things.

    Best of luck with everything to you and your Dad - keep us posted on how you are getting on and what the next steps are. The surgeons who do this stuff are really amazing at what they do, so your Dad will be in good hands.

    Cheers

    Leo

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