Hi there. My husband had cancer of floor of mouth in Spring 2021. He had surgery to remove the tumour, reconstruction of floor of mouth using flesh from his neck area, a neck dissection and then 34 sessions of radiotherapy. A month later, a second tumour appeared, he had another neck dissection on the other side, declined the second lot of 34 sessions of radiotherapy and 3 lots of chemotherapy. He had regular 3 monthly scans for the first two years and since then he has had scans every 6 months. All good and clear.
He developed Osteoradionecrosis in his lower jaw in the autumn of 2023 and then after being monitored, he had surgery to remove two molars along with the dead bone and clean out the entire area.
He now has a huge cavity in his mouth. Every time he eats something, he gets food stuck in there which means he has to syringe it regularly throughout the day. Sometimes food gets caught in there and he can’t remove it. We saw the Maxiofacial consultant today and asked whether anything can be done about the cavity. She said that, depending on the health of the bone (we are waiting for a date for a CT scan), he can have surgery to remove some flesh from inside his cheek and use that to fill the gap. He would have stitches in his mouth and therefore a scar and she said that he (temporarily?) wouldn’t be able to open his mouth as wide as he currently can.
So here’s my question. Is there anyone on here who has had this procedure/surgery done and would you be able to shed any light on what it’s like and what he would have to go through? Bearing in mind what he’s been through already, he’s somewhat reluctant to go through any more surgery, but obviously knows that if it’s the best thing, then it needs to be done.
Thank you.
Debbie
Good evening Debbie, i had floor of the mouth cancer back in 2008, it was my first of three cancers in that area, i had surgery/ full neck dissection to remove the tumour, removing lymph glands etc that were deemed suspect. I had skin taken from my forearm on my first operation, and once it had all healed up, i had three chemo and 30 radiotherapy sessions. Cancer came back in 2009, but this time it was my lower jaw, so i had an operation to reconstruct part of my jaw, but no further radio/chemo, a lot of the skin grafts were taken from my leg and stomach along with a bit of bone from my leg to make the new part of the jaw. Finally, in 2010, i had my voicebox removed as the cancer came back. Thankfully, that's where it stopped. I know how your husband feels about having more surgery, but i think if your husband's consultant can offer further surgery that will help solve the issue, then i would consider it. I went through a lot in those three years, but i have never regretted it. I hope this is of some help to you both, all the best.
Chris x
Its sometimes not easy but its worth it !
