Segmental Mandibulectomy Recovery

Hello, your surgery sounds not dissimilar to mine.

My cancer was squamous cell carcinoma by a lower left molar. I had a rim mandibulectomy and reconstruction from arm. I also had a neck dissection.

I had a lot of swelling to face, jawline and neck following surgery. Three months on and the swelling has slowly decreased, but hasn’t yet completely gone.

There is still slight puffiness to face and jawline the side of surgery. I also have swelling to neck associated with the dissection.

I must admit I was taken aback by how long it takes swelling to go post op, but it has gradually receded.

Wishing you all the best in your recovery.

Good evening MandiMan, i had part of my lower jaw replaced with skin grafts, packing, etc like you i had skin grafts that died and had to be redone, a lot of tissue was taken from my stomach. The bone for my jaw was taken from my left leg so i understand what you mean with the ankle movements, i remember leaving the hospital using crutches and going for my check-ups in a wheelchair. 

  Im afraid the swelling does take a while to go down as well as the jaw, i just tried to keep mobile as much as possible without overdoing it with my ankle and the same with my jaw, i found it took longer for my leg to heal up compared to my jaw but it all slowly comes together. I would say about three months until things really settle down and you begin to feel a bit like your old self, you will have good and bad days but it sounds as if you are doing pretty well so far despite the setbacks of the graft/flap. If you click on my name it will take you to my profile where a have written a brief summary of my dealings with mouth cancer, my first operation was in 2008 with no comebacks since 20010, wishing you all the best for your recovery, please re-post if you have any concerns, you would be more than welcome to offer advice yourself about you experiences with this type of cancer. Take care.

                                                                                                      Chris   

Thank you both so much for your replies. It's very reassuring to know that its normal to still have swelling at this stage. I think im just overthinking things which is due to the recovery being so slow. I'm generally an active person so taking it easy is becoming a bit of a drag!

CathyLovesFlowers, i think you're a month further on than me maybe, how have you found eating? I can eat most foods but nothing too brittle (like thick crisps or chocolate) or chewy, or too big as i cant open my mouth fully. Maybe there is a difference in this regard between rim and segmental mandibs. I can't wait for the day to bite into a burger, eating it with a knife and fork in tiny pieces isnt' the same!     

I have read your profile Chris and its inspiring to see everything you have been though and puts everything into perspective. I know what you mean about good days and bad days, but the bad days seem to be becoming less frequent.

I have added a brief (as brief as i can!) summary to my biography of my journey so far. 

With regard to eating, you seem to be doing very well if you can already eat most foods. My surgery was less challenging than yours but I actually took a couple of months to progress from soft foods.

I was on soups and smoothies for at least a month and could only insert a teaspoon. I still can’t chew anything very demanding and tend to mash things up on the plate rather than bite or chew. But I can eat a sandwich now, as long as it’s flabby bread and a gooey filling.

My jaw opening has gradually improved over three months, but is not back to what it was and I suspect it never will be.