Hi all,
Today I was booked in for a 1 hour procedure to remove a 'stage 1' tongue cancer.The procedure was described as an examination under anaesthetic.
When I woke up, I was told nothing would happen today 
I was told I would require a flap from my arm because the affected area with margin would be too large to heal on its own and also a neck dissection would be required.
It's kind of come as a bit of a surprise, as I was told nothing could be seen on my MRI, and luckily nothing was on my CT.
They have described it as superficial, and around 5mm deep, a T2, I will need to spend 10 days in hospital.
Could someone please help describe the following from my notes? "it was deemed SCC was extension and would benefit from neck dissection and free flap"
Sounds quite scary and I am worried whether it can be cured
Many thanks
Hi Mr Fox
it means that the cancer isn’t removable without reconstruction if some kind and the way they do it is to take a piece of skin with a decent blood supply from your arm and use it to repair the defect after the cancer has gone. It’s a bit of nifty microsurgery. Not what you wanted to hear mind you. I wonder why the MRI didn’t pick it up? When was the MRI done?
The neck dissection is an operation to remove a layer of lymph nodes because your team is concerned there is cancer there too. A scan won’t pick that up if it’s very small so each one will be biopsied. You have hundreds of lymph nodes and they take only a few.
I didn’t have either of these operations but I’m sure somebody who has will be along to explain how they fared.
It must have been a hell of a shock but at least they are in top of it.
Hope they sort you out soon and good luck.
Keep us in the loop and we’ll help where we can.
Dani
Base of tongue cancer. T2N0M0 6 weeks Radiotherapy finished January 2019
So much that they don't know until they "go in" MrFox. My dissection went from a very simple one to a "modified radical" while on the table so took a lot more time, but still the "easy bit" as I was told with radio /chemo to come, and that was right. The "free flap" I've no experience of so can't help with that but I'd really try not to worry (easy to say) because the vast majoroty of us will be cured.
None of my stuff was flagged up on any of the scans they did on me so that's not unusual; stay positive, you'll be OK!
Metastatic SCC diagnosed 8th October 2013. Modified radical neck dissection November, thirty-five radiotherapy fractions with 2xCisplatin chemo Jan/Feb 2014. Recurrence on larynx diagnosed July 2020 so salvage laryngectomy in September 2020.
Good evening Mr Fox, i can fully understand how surprised you were when you came around and got your bearings, As MileO mention this can happen. I had a free flap taken from my forearm to use to repair a hole in the floor of my mouth, as previously said it's taken with a vein so it can be used to make good any area that has become too big due to the removal of the tumour. These are very common in many surgeries like this and on the whole, are very successful in repairing the damaged area. To be honest i had no troubles with my surgery but found the doner site where they took the skin (donor site)took a while to heal up but it all came good and its certainly a very neat bit of surgery they perform
Try not to be too scared as its a very common procedure with positive results, this is the best way to make sure they get clear margins making sure they have the best chance of removing the tumour completely. This type of cancer and the area it is in is very curable and improving all the time, remember you will be in safe experienced hands, please come back and re-post if you have any questions, problems,etc and we will do our best to help you. Best wishes, take care.
Chris x
Its sometimes not easy but its worth it !
Good luck Mr Fox. You’re lucky to have that appointment. I think it’s a marvellous support. Let us know how you get on.
Dani
Base of tongue cancer. T2N0M0 6 weeks Radiotherapy finished January 2019
