Speech recovery after hemi glossectomy? Recipes? Any teachers out there?

Hi Suzie. I didn't have a glossectomy but I did have cancer in my tongue treated with six weeks RT.

My voice recovered pretty quickly, a few months, but my throat was till very dry for much longer and I carried water around with me till I discovered chewing gum. Even so in the mornings it was always a croak till I had a cup of tea.

I have just been talking to a friend about eating issues and she has this book which she highly recommends

Dysphagia cookbook

I can say that the first meat I tried was a slow cooked lamb casserole with apricots. Lamb is a greasy soft meat that really is easy to eat. My go to when I started eating was avocado and poached eggs. Toasted teacakes with lashings of Lurpak too. Toasted bread actually dries up what saliva you have much less than plain bread, but then that depends on whether your problem is with chewing or swallowing.

Hope some of this helps

Hi Suzie. My cancer was jaw cancer so not the same as yours but as far as returning to work it was 3 months for me after I finished radiotherapy. However my radiotherapy was concentrated on my jaw and not at the back of my throat so the outcome was a bit different. I felt very fatigued for quite some time and could not contemplate returning to work earlier than  3 months and even then it was a phased return. I was an occupational therapist so lots of patient focused work so a bit different to teaching. However it would take much longer when radiotherapy is aimed at your throat. Don't rush it take your time. Your body will know when you feel ready to return to work. I lost my confidence somewhat about returning to work but I go back into the swing of it fairly quickly. 

The cookbook that I still find useful is called 'Puree Food Cookbook for Adults' by Salena Green. I bought it on Amazon I think. It says that it is 'the essential guide to creating delicious and nutritious easy meals for people with chewing, swallowing difficulties and dysphagia.' That sold it to me. Lots of ideas in there and you can vary the consistency of the food depending on where you are with swallowing. 

It does make eating more interesting when you can vary your menu.

Best wishes for the recovery

Lyn

Thank you, I’ll check out the book x

Thanks for the advice & book recommendation

Hi Suzzie

You are probably in the post radiotherapy fatigue zone still, but if it does not improve over the next few months see your GP and ask for a thyroid test.  One of the potential side effects we get is an underactive thyroid and that can lead to fatigue.  2 years on and I am still quite fatigued on occasions.  I do have thyroid replacement drugs which keep that in balance but still have the fatigue.  As I sit here typing this I am in a "fatigue episode" - different to tiredness.  That is possibly one of the long term effects for a few of us and maybe I am one of them as at the moment every test comes back as within the normal range.

I think you have had some really good advice on the various foods.  Try a little and often as an eating regime and don't be afraid to experiment.  Also remember that what works this week for eating may not be OK next week, but good again in a few weeks time.  Frustrating, especially for my wife when she cooks what was a perfectly acceptable meal last week...