Kay
My dad was diagnosed Feb/99 with stage 14 tongue cancer on floor of mouth. My sister and i are his only family besides a distant brother, so we have supported him. This is a very traumatic disease and affects all of our lives and families lives. My father is currently on a feeding tube. Following his surgical removal of tumor they grafted him a new partial tongue by way of wrist graft. His tongue has always been abnormally large and extra saliva. He underwent extensive 14hr surgery at the age of 73 and then 5 days icu, then contiunous followup care in hospital and rehab centers with trach care. He also had his neck incised to remove some cells in his lymph nodes in neck. Obviously, he does not drink and smoke anymore. He lives a life however of not much quality. He has much difficulty in speech and is very weak because he exist on Nutrin daily and barely maintain his weight. Months following his radiation treatments (no chemo) he did begin to eat again. But he fell back to the feeding tube and canned nutrition, chronic pain in his left jaw. We are currently getting ready to undergo another biopsy to check the site in his jaw. If that needs to be removed, they will also attempt to reconstruct his tongue flap which seems to large and swollen constantly. My dad takes Prozac to help with depression and pain but any letters of others would be helpful to give him as he lives alone and would benefit from knowing that there are others out there that suffer from similar conditions. There are no oral cancers support groups in our area. Please share your story if you like and I will pass these to my dad. He is trying very hard everyday to keep his chin up and this cancer can be so difficult to live with, especially when you loose your ability to taste, eat and have difficulty swallowing and talking. God bless all who has been there, our thoughts and prayers are with you.