Dear Eva, My father hasn’t eaten in 5 days and barely drinks water. He continues to refuse a feeding tube even though his weight dropped from 158 to 120. He doesn’t complain but his health is going downhill fast. Radiation for his oropharyngeal cancer ended almost 3 months ago! Our whole family is begging him to save himself. As a …
T.O.T. Tethered Oral Tissue and Tongue-Tied
Last year, when I gave a presentation to the Academy of Laser Dentistry, I sat in on a course by Dr. Larry Katkow, a laser dentist who specializes in babies. In a ten second procedure, he can laser a piece of tissue in the oral cavity and free it from being tethered to the tongue, lip or cheek. After his …
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No Tongue and Grateful
Good thing she bit her tongue. She was resistant to seeing a doctor, but when it didn’t heal, she went. A squamous cell carcinoma more than 1/2 of her tongue. Were there other symptoms? Did she ever have pain in her tongue? Pain is the most common sign of oral cancer. Despite having most of her tongue reconstructed from her …
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Jim Kelly: Tobacco-Chewer, Oral Cancer Survivor and ESPYS Perseverance Award Winner
How has oral cancer affected Jim Kelly? Listen to his voice. Or, rather his articulation. Can you imagine how he eats differently, swallows differently, sleeps with difficulty? Oral cancer is devastating and you cannot hide the results under your clothes. Jim Kelly accepts the Perseverance Award from ESPYS and gives a 5-minute acceptance speech mentioning his son Hunter and how …
Pathologist with a Passion: 20 Years as Deputy Director for NIH
It’s a special person who has the prestigious role leading the National Cancer Institute for several years and at the same time, help cancer patients who need advice at no charge. “Every evening he would be on the phone” talking to desperate patients, his son said about his father Dr. Alan Rabson. Every medical school except one rejected his application …