Been told on Wednesday that my mums operation will be 12 hours long (as aposed to the 9 hours we were initially told) also the whole of her tongue will have to come away. Resulting in the reconstructed tongue having no function...she will be tube fed for the rest of her life.. will she ever be able to swallow saliva, talk again? She will have a trachea fitted to help with breathing after surgery will that end up being permanent too? It was all so much to take in and a question I want to know is what's the point in prolonging the surgery to reconstruct a tongue and putting the body under more strain with healing a new tongue and a skin graft off her thigh? As an elderly lady going through extensive surgery to not have a functioning tongue seems extreme but am I being strange
Hello Itsmelou, wow this is a hard one and I can see your reasoning behind it all, I'm afraid I cannot answer the questions but I do know that the tongue has an important role for speech, swallowing saliva and of course taste, with it removed I expect to talk properly will be difficult the same a swallowing saliva, unless a reconstructed tongue does offer a bit of help. As you say if she was younger it would not be so bad going through all the surgery followed by the healing process of both the skin from her thigh and the reconstructed tongue. I have had quite a few skin grafts and reconstruction work done on a new lower jaw which all turned out as well as expected so i think they like to offer a reconstructed tongue rather than nothing at all. Im sure the trachea will come out eventually, mine did after the three ops i had. I see Linda knows a bit more about this subject so it is a good idea to do a friends request. Wishing you and your mum all the best for the outcome, remember she will be in excellent hands as the N.H.S are the best when it matters. You certainly are not being strange and i can see where you are coming from. Take care.
Chris x
Its sometimes not easy but its worth it !
