Credit: SWNS / Jamie Powell
A woman says she'll "never French kiss again" after having half of her tongue removed and replaced with leg tissue after a cancer diagnosis.
Jamie Powell, 39, was diagnosed with tongue cancer in March 2020 after discovering a raised bump on her tongue.
After undergoing tests, Jamie was told she had stage three cancer and would need half of her tongue removed as well some of the lymph nodes in her neck.
She underwent the eight hour op in March 2020 and found herself having to learn how to talk and eat again - while coming to terms with her new tongue, which she says felt like a "foreign object".
A woman says she'll "never French kiss again" after having half of her tongue removed and replaced with leg tissue after a cancer diagnosis.
Jamie Powell, 39, was diagnosed with tongue cancer in March 2020 after discovering a raised bump on her tongue.
After undergoing tests, Jamie was told she had stage three cancer and would need half of her tongue removed as well some of the lymph nodes in her neck.
She underwent the eight hour op in March 2020 and found herself having to learn how to talk and eat again - while coming to terms with her new tongue, which she says felt like a "foreign object".
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🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00 (gentle music)
00:02 This is what my tongue looked like.
00:06 See how there's a square patch here?
00:10 And then there's that bump.
00:12 And that's what I initially felt.
00:13 December 2019, I woke up one morning
00:16 and I felt that bump in the back of my tongue
00:17 and I thought, I must have bit my tongue in my sleep.
00:21 I was like, oh, it'll heal on its own,
00:22 just like when you bite your tongue or your cheek
00:24 or something, it heals rather quickly.
00:26 This wasn't going away.
00:29 In two weeks, it wasn't going away.
00:32 And I was like, mm, red flag, something's wrong.
00:36 My dentist didn't think it was a big deal
00:38 because I'm not a smoker, I have no other risk factors.
00:41 And I had to get a second opinion from an ENT
00:44 who did a biopsy and that's how they know for sure
00:47 that it was tongue cancer and it was aggressive.
00:50 So you have to act quickly.
00:51 If you have a bump or sore on your tongue
00:54 that has not gone away in two weeks, go get seen.
00:57 It's just super terrifying to know
00:59 that I won't sound the same
01:01 and I'm gonna have to relearn these things
01:05 that we take for granted
01:06 because I will be different coming out of this,
01:09 but it's not gonna break me.
01:11 So I'm gonna keep talking as much as I can.
01:14 And I'm hoping that I'll be able to sound a bit better.
01:19 I'm gonna have coffee with this, so John's gonna help me.
01:28 Talking about how ready I was to be a mom
01:30 and I realized I did it all while sitting in my chair.
01:33 Three years ago today, I had an appointment with the ENT
01:35 about the bump on my tongue, three years ago.
01:39 This is what I sound like today
01:42 after having to relearn how to speak,
01:45 chew and swallow food.
01:47 I know I sound different than that girl in that first video.
01:52 I know that I'm completely different.
01:54 Like the aura of glide in that first video
01:57 than how I am now, so different.
01:59 I am here on the socials to help educate
02:03 and help you know the signs
02:05 so that if this ever happens to you,
02:08 which I hope it doesn't,
02:09 you'll know how to catch it early.
02:11 Open your mouth up, go wide,
02:13 check the size of your teeth,
02:14 pull out your tongue with your fingers,
02:16 see if there's any weird bumps or lumps,
02:18 raised, white, red,
02:20 anything that looks out of the ordinary,
02:23 go get checked out.
02:23 [BLANK_AUDIO]