Will I ever be able to eat normally again?

Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) Tube feeding device

Much of what we do in the course of our daily lives involves many things that we simply take for granted. We don't give a lot of these much thought, it's all just part of what we do.

Some of these things include breathing, talking, tasting, swallowing and eating. Sounds easy enough, but with oral cancer, some or all of these "easy" tasks may become nearly impossible.

Breathing is a must. Talking, I suppose, if we had to, could do without. It is not essential for life. Eating and swallowing are two areas I am addressing here.

Since the initial surgery in March, I have been getting my nourishment through a feeding tube. The doctors specified Glucerna with 350 calories. I try to eat in the normal way through my mouth, but there are two critical components of eating and swallowing that have changed as a result of the surgery.

The first is that all of my lower teeth were removed to try to eliminate the cancer cells in the jaw and gums. I can try to eat soft foods, but there is another problem.

The surgeon had to take part of my tongue since there were cancer cells in it. They did their best to reconstruct it, but the good part of the tongue works, it's the other part that just kind of dangles and tries to follow the rest of the tongue.

Most do not realize this since it is a normal reaction, but when I put food in my mouth I an unable to maneuver the food to send it down the throat.

I have tried and tried to eat. I think of some food that might work and it doesn't. Strained soup, "wet" mashed potatoes with gravy, moist puddings all seem to work fairly well. If any of it is somewhat dry, the food just kind of sits there in my mouth and no matter how I move my tongue, it won't go anywhere other than where it is.

I cannot tell you how difficult it is to walk up and down the aisles at the grocery store and see all the food I used to love. But all I can do is look at it. It's just another thing I can see but cannot do.

So many things I miss but I have to adjust; I have to find alternatives or I will simply drown in my own sorrows and that is something I don't want that to happen.

We have been looking in some of the support group pages on facebook and some actually take the dinner others are having and blend it up into a consistency that will work.

The holidays are coming. The "Food" holidays - those associated with get-togethers, pot-lucks, work-related dinners and of course the abundance of food and treats at home. We will find alternatives. We have to.

In fact, if the readers here have ideas, let me know. Maybe we can start an online cookbook of sorts. If we get enough recipes, we can even segregate by consistency.

Where there is a will, there is a way. Find alternatives, find what works for you. It may take awhile and it may at first seem frustrating, but eventually, it will all work out.