› Forums › General Melanoma Community › After CLND of neck: Anyone have speech and eating problems?
- This topic has 8 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 2 months ago by
Fen.
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- February 17, 2017 at 9:27 pm
8 days since complete lymph node dissection of the left side of my neck.
Normal scar and muscle tightness (and no sensation in my left ear, cheek, neck, and shoulder).
My speech is having a strong lisp.
It is very difficult to move food around in my mouth (mostly moving food from left to right is the challenge, and if it gets stuck at the top of my mouth then I can only get it with my finger).
When I try to smile, and/or lift the sides of my mouth up, only my right side goes up (left side stays horizontal)
Has anyone experienced these? Could you let me know how you overcame them?
Any recommendations regarding medications, vitamins, or herbal medicines which can help nerves to heal?
My surgeon is getting me help from a speech therapist, so I've got that going on. But I'm definitely interested in the experience of others in this regard.
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- February 18, 2017 at 2:52 am
I had lymph nodes desection in my neck, and didn’t have any problems. I had a very good surgeon, who was specialist for melanoma of neck. He warned me there is a possibility of damage a nerve, and I wouldn’t be able to lift my arm. He was very good at saving a nerve, and I am fine. I do not if you surgeon was a specialist for melanoma or general surgeon. -
- February 18, 2017 at 2:52 am
I had lymph nodes desection in my neck, and didn’t have any problems. I had a very good surgeon, who was specialist for melanoma of neck. He warned me there is a possibility of damage a nerve, and I wouldn’t be able to lift my arm. He was very good at saving a nerve, and I am fine. I do not if you surgeon was a specialist for melanoma or general surgeon. -
- February 18, 2017 at 1:40 pm
My clnd was over 10 years ago so my memories of the event may be faulty but I do remember some issues for the first month or so. Things gradually improved to the point where i didn't notice anything but areas of numbness. I hope your recovery follows the same path. Sounds like your surgeon is doing everything he/she can which is a good sign.
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- February 18, 2017 at 5:57 pm
Thank you for this input. I do agree that my surgeon is doing all that he can to help me. He is a well regarded neck surgeon and he did a great job on my surgery.
There just may have been more to the surgery than a typical CLND (or maybe I'm just not patient enough at going through a recovery process which does seem to be getting better every day). In my case 44 lymph nodes were removed (5 were positive), a submandibular gland, and a piece of skeletal muscle 7.4cm X 2.5cm (this is from the pathology report where it says this section was a different color in the middle than on the ends – and I know from my initial SLND excision that the positive lymph nodes were enmeshed in this muscle and had pushed through it to make a bulge on the side of my neck. So I'm glad he took it out and yet spared me from having it cut all the way across).
I've figured out that I will definitely get my full speech back. I just need to exercise my tongue to the left (and work on getting it up/over my teeth into my left cheek). It is also mildly swollen and that could be related to things like my pain meds, or related to two small injuries on my tongue (from rubbing or else a mild bite) which will definitely heal in the next 24 hours.
So my focus will be on slowly re-stretching the muscle which was 2/3 removed. The remaining 1/3 has contracted significantly almost like it is going into the 'fetal position' to get out of the way of harm. (Im going to be persistent about stretching/Physical Therapy and in 6 months I am going to have a better physique than I've had in a long time – I will consider these exercises to be my 'battle against cancer.' Just like all of us, I need something to focus on, and keep me active, in order to keep my spirits up.
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- February 18, 2017 at 5:57 pm
Thank you for this input. I do agree that my surgeon is doing all that he can to help me. He is a well regarded neck surgeon and he did a great job on my surgery.
There just may have been more to the surgery than a typical CLND (or maybe I'm just not patient enough at going through a recovery process which does seem to be getting better every day). In my case 44 lymph nodes were removed (5 were positive), a submandibular gland, and a piece of skeletal muscle 7.4cm X 2.5cm (this is from the pathology report where it says this section was a different color in the middle than on the ends – and I know from my initial SLND excision that the positive lymph nodes were enmeshed in this muscle and had pushed through it to make a bulge on the side of my neck. So I'm glad he took it out and yet spared me from having it cut all the way across).
I've figured out that I will definitely get my full speech back. I just need to exercise my tongue to the left (and work on getting it up/over my teeth into my left cheek). It is also mildly swollen and that could be related to things like my pain meds, or related to two small injuries on my tongue (from rubbing or else a mild bite) which will definitely heal in the next 24 hours.
So my focus will be on slowly re-stretching the muscle which was 2/3 removed. The remaining 1/3 has contracted significantly almost like it is going into the 'fetal position' to get out of the way of harm. (Im going to be persistent about stretching/Physical Therapy and in 6 months I am going to have a better physique than I've had in a long time – I will consider these exercises to be my 'battle against cancer.' Just like all of us, I need something to focus on, and keep me active, in order to keep my spirits up.
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- February 18, 2017 at 1:40 pm
My clnd was over 10 years ago so my memories of the event may be faulty but I do remember some issues for the first month or so. Things gradually improved to the point where i didn't notice anything but areas of numbness. I hope your recovery follows the same path. Sounds like your surgeon is doing everything he/she can which is a good sign.
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