Has anyone had tongue cancer?

Hi, I am a survivor of tongue cancer. I am 53 years old and had leukoplakia on the left lateral side of the tongue for about 25 years. Two years ago the leukoplakia spread to the left flour of my mouth and I got a 2cc tumor in the tip of my tongue.

 I decided to put myself in the hands of two fantastic physicians at the Sylvester Cancer Center in Miami, Florida. Drs. Civantos and Arnold took half of my left jaw, the floor of my mouth and half of my tongue out. They did a graft with skin from my hand.

I had 6 weeks of radiation therapy to my mouthn.

The result: I can talk, eat, work, enjoy a very productive life.

How are you doing?

anamariaescalona - great news!!  so glad to hear of your story....  

My name is Andrew, and my mother (59 years old) is recovering from tongue and mouth cancer. Her operation was in Sep '06. At that time, she had 1/2 of her tongue removed and a number of lymph nodes in her neck and mouth (bottom).  Sounds somewhat similar to you.. She has gone through the subsequent radiation/chemo activities, and looks to be cancer free. Additionally, she has been on a feeding tube for some time, but had that removed 3-4 months after the procedure (trac removed as well).

As it's been over a year, my Mother has NOT been able to eat any solid foods. Hence, she has lost a lot of weight. She's on an "all liquid" diet and can't seem to use her tongue, mouth, or jaw well enough. Her speech is pretty good, but the inability to eat is really a problem.  Her Doctors are thinking about putting the feeding tube back in her stomach (any day now).  

I'm visiting her this Thursday (12/6), and am going to cheer her up a bit.  I'm hoping to find indviduals outside of her hospital (Michigan area), that might be able to assit her with similar procedures/etc. 

If you have any suggestions on how you were able to eat, cope, etc.  Your insight would be much appreciated. 

Thanks!

Andrew

Yes I just had the right side of my tongue removed (about 1/5 of of the tounge) and several lymph nodes from my neck and I found out today that I get to start chemo and radiation soon.

Squamous cell carcinoma of tongue January 29, 2007.  Biopsy completed early February 2007 with Radiation and Chemo started February 8, 2007 for 7 consecutive weeks.

Male, 53 years of age, right side of neck lympth node swollen 3.5 centimeters.

Trreatment completed late March 2007 with periodic visits to oncologist every 3 months with PET Scan every 6 months. 

Mine was Stage 4 so very agressive treatment with IMRT Radiation and 6 Chemo Cisplatin treatments.  Feeding tube installed in week 5 due to severe weight loss (50 pounds). 

As of today, tumor is gone with no evidence of cancer.

My advise, see a good oncologist as soon as possible and avoid non-medical literature about this disease on the Internet.  Be positive and proactive at all times.  With the correct treatment, survival rate is 80%-90%.

Best of luck----you will be fine.

 Diagnosed on 1/17/2007 and had surgery on 2/21/2007.  Almost 1 year since surgery and I'm clean.  Had reconstruction - free flap - speech therapy, trach, feeding tube for 7 weeks but I was determined to beat this...I didn't need any chemo or radiation, thank God. Now I just take one day at a time, thankful that I caught it in time and had an excellent surgeon.