I need to know
- Two mothers from Coto de Caza, California, reflect unexpected tongue cancer diagnosis and postoperative problems.
- Her treatment included a long and emotional recovery marked with major surgery, radiation, language struggle and continuous side effects.
- Five years later, Jamie Powell shares his story to raise awareness and encourage others to trust instincts when something goes wrong.
Five years ago, Jamie Powell was diagnosed to change the life of a tongue. If there is no traditional risk factor and at first there is a dentist who dismissed her concerns, the news was shocked.
In March 2020, she had glossy to remove a part of the tongue, reconstruct it using the tissue on the thighs, and then dissect it on the neck to solve the cancer.
Two months later, POWELL “The most pathological” experience of her life: 30 heads and neck radiation sessions.
As a survivor today, the two mothers of the 41 -year -old reflect the complex aftermath of their lives with the changing voices, the changed taste, and the quiet elasticity needed to move forward.
Powell speaks exclusively to people. “I didn’t worry too much at first. I just thought it was strange.”
Shortly after abnormal discovery, she asked a dentist about a conflict but told him not to worry. A few weeks later, the bump remained despite the tendency to heal quickly.
The more worried POWELL was finally going to emergency treatment in January 2020 and was mentioned as an ear, nose and throat doctor (ENT) a month later. The doctor decided to do an immediate biopsy after checking the square patch on the tongue.
POWELL said, “I don’t listen to anything for a week and one day someone calls you and says, ‘You have cancer.'” I didn’t even know who I was. ”
Provision of Jamie Powell
Until that point, she went four months without diagnosis and dismissed the provider because it didn’t fit the general dangerous profile.
“I believe that my tumor has grown in that month,” she says. “I didn’t know what happened and it was scary and disappointing that someone didn’t listen to me.”
As a result, on March 23, 2020, POWELL suffered from Glosectomy, which required hospitalization for a week at the beginning of Covid-19 Lockdown. She also dissected the neck to remove all the lymph nodes on the left.
Provision of Jamie Powell
POWELL said, “I couldn’t speak or eat. I had a food tube and I used the iPad to communicate with a doctor and a nurse.” Then I had to do 30 rounds on my head and neck, which was an absolute hell. ”
During the radiation period, the mesh mask was molded on her face and was fixed with a bolt to the table to keep her completely throughout each session. “Every day, you endure burning, sprinkle blisters throughout your mouth, and flavors sewage -like foods and water,” she says. “It’s terrible.”
Healing from surgery was a slow process. She had to re -educate the brain to make a sound by forming a tongue.
POWELL said, “The healing process is very disappointing. I have a lifetime side effect that I deal with every day.” “I can only eat soft food without taste food and my voice is different.”
Provision of Jamie Powell
Communication was a routine challenge with children who could not understand her. Due to the loss of clear speech, she got angry and hurt her heart.
“I remember that a surgeon described me with the surgery. I was just insensitive. And I heard that he said he would say that my voice would be different,” she recalls. “I immediately thought of my children. How do you sing to them? How do you tell them how much I love you?”
To this day, POWELL’s voice stays and it is more difficult to say with some other remaining side effects.
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“The radiation for the head and neck was so cruel. Mobility is limited when you open and close your mouth,” she explains. “At night, the chin is tightened and you have to open your mouth and exercise every morning. It became everyday at 4 am.”
Her taste is burned and everything, such as “wet cardboard,” except coffee and peanut butter. “For months after the radiation, I couldn’t taste anything, one morning coffee, and I could actually taste it.”
POWELL also has no saliva, which leads to oral cavity. She is adjusted to get used to it slowly after drinking all the water.
Provision of Jamie Powell
“I don’t ask for dinner because I have to choose to eat or speak,” she warns. ”
5 years after her diagnosis and surgery, POWELL Share her experience Cancer and podcasts through social media, Young dialect.
“I couldn’t find a lot of people like age like age. I was experiencing this. I felt it alone and I made it all because I didn’t want someone to feel it like this.” “I talked about the honest honesty that I was in a diary and felt bad. me. I didn’t know who I was by stealing my identity. ”
In recovery, sharing her symptoms and lessons was therapeutic but intentional. “This is why cancer swallows your mental health with your body,” she said. “I wanted to know that it was okay for others to feel this way.”
POWELL hoped to preach her story to raise the perception that cancer does not always follow the rules. It can also affect young people with no risk factors. Speaking is a way to help healing and often overlook others.
“Most oral cancer can be missed until in the second stage,” she explains. “I learned that no one should go through this alone.
