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My husband passed away in November 2005 at the age of 34 [...]

Posted by Alisa @alisa4, Sep 13, 2016

My husband passed away in November 2005 at the age of 34 from squamous cell carcinoma, he had tongue cancer. What annoyed me more than anything is that his dentist excused a tumor (it looked like an ulcer) on his tongue, not one time but twice. We then heard from a local ENT that he also had a patient with tongue cancer and she got it cut out and is leading a mostly, normal life. When the ENT went in for surgery, he couldnt continue and said it had spread and was beyond his expertise and sent us to U of P, with supposedly the best surgeon there. That was the year from hell. It started with a huge reconstructive surgery where they cut out almost half of Greg's tongue and reconstructed it with an artery from his leg. He had over 30 lymph nodes taken from his neck which never healed properly and the smell from it being infected was worse than anything I ever remember. Post surgery took forever to heal and he had to do radiation and chemo after he healed. He also had a trach put in for a month or so after surgery and a feeding tube in his stomach because it would be hard to eat for a while...or basically for the rest of his short life. He lived 9 months after his surgery. There are times I kick myself hard for allowing the doctors to cut him to pieces. A few other I have heard of, opted not to have surgery and they did radiation which seemed to shrink the tumor. Although, they might have discomfort and some difficulty swallowing, they are still alive today. Please know all your options. Ask around and see what others have done before you. I needed to tell my story and vent. I know people are scared and I'll say a prayer for all of you. God bless.

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