Had a Biopsy of my Tongue

Mine started out as what I thought was an inflamed taste bud or I thought I had bit my tongue. It got so painful it was difficult to eat. Dentist thought it looked cancerous and sent me to the ENT for a biopsy. It was indeed squamous cell carcinoma. It did grow fast. Between the time of biopsy and surgery a few months went by. They ended up doing a glossectomy and I lost a great deal of my tongue. That was one year ago in May. I wish you good luck and fingers crossed you have an excellent outcome. Hugs from Wyoming.

Did they transplant skin and/or tissue to rebuild the tongue and how long was the recovery? How did it affect your speech? I was recently scheduled for tongue surgery with not knowing how much will have to be removed so I have many questions.
Thank you so much for sharing.

Similar experience, I went back and forth between my dentist, and my primary care doc, (every 6 months) advising them the pain I had on the right side of my tongue for a year and half. But they could not visually see anything and continued to refer me back and forth between them. Finally primary care doc referred me to an ENT, and with her 1st visit she saw "something", 2nd visit a week later had a bioscopy, 3rd visit a week later was in the hospital for surgery (stage 3 squamous cell carcinoma) and she removed 1/5 of my tongue, and 29 lymph nodes in my neck. Since it spread to lymph nodes received both the heavy metal chemo, and 35 doses of radiation. Prayers for you it is benign.

Yes they had to rebuild my tongue. They transplanted skin from my breast. My tongue is no longer the same size as a normal tongue. It does affect your speech but I have speech therapy and lots of exercises I can do. It does help. Right now most people can understand me except for one the phone. But it is going better. The more you practice and talk the easier it gets. I am now a year into this. Meanwhile I'm also dealing with a case of fibrosis in my chest and neck from all that radiation. It is a long recovery and some days are hard but it does get better although slowly.

Thank you so much for your information. I am worried about my speech because I make many speeches a year and am in a leadership position of an organization, so I am trying to come to terms with be unable to fulfill my obligations. I know my health should be my first concern, but it is my way of life. I know it will work out, but it is just the process.
Glad to hear you are getting better but sorry to hear about the effects of the radiation.
Thanks again for sharing.

You are very welcome. This is my side of the story and everyone is a bit different. I wish you good luck. Hugs and prayers for you.

Hi hope you are well! How did this turn out, I am going through something similar for 10 months now

@cwanczyk They ended up removing less than half my tongue and did not rebuild it as he felt it would be better to let it fill in. Due to the size of the tumor did a radical neck dissection and removed hundreds of lymph nodes - found no cancer in any of them so no chemo or radiation recommended. However, during the surgery my lymphatic system was nicked and had a chyle leak, spent eight days in the hospital instead of an overnight and was able to get the leak stopped with pressure patches, bed rest, and a no fat diet. Went in and had it drained once, that helped with the swelling. It has been almost three months now and still have soft tissue damage on my neck, and it helps to continue to keep it wrapped with an ace bandage. That helps with the swelling and when it swells it causes pain in my jaw and up into my ear. He says soft tissue damage will take a long time to heal. I am also noticing a lot of mucus and that is irritating. I also have a lot of scar tissue under my tongue that is causing it to pull to the side, so am now trying to break it lose with exercises. But all in all, it could be much worse so I can deal with this. Hope this helps and also hope you have good news. Have a great Thanksgiving with your special ones.