In the fall of 2020, Katie Drablos noticed an ulcer on the back of her tongue that didn’t go away.As her pain increased, she visited emergency medical care, which COVID-19 (new coronavirus infection) Symptoms. It wasn’t, and when she didn’t improve, she learned why: she had tongue cancer.
“I didn’t belong to that age group, and I lived a life that made me crazy about things like oral cancer,” said a 35-year-old dancer and choreographer in New York City. “Sharing my story may allow someone to feel less lonely, express their feelings, and reach out when they need help. Can all overcome difficult days and continue to find joy. “
Indelible ulcer pain
Drabros could not be seen Ulcerative stomatitis, But she felt it. A small spot on the far left of her tongue made her feel pain only occasionally at first. When she visited the dentist in November 2020, she didn’t even ask about it because it wasn’t too annoying yet. But when she ate, she sometimes felt a sparkle of pain. By January 2021, her pain was almost constant.
“What I saw on the outside of my tongue was this strange-looking pain,” she explained. “It was hard for me to see because of the placement. If it was at the tip of my tongue, it probably would have been” not like the pain of a normal ulcer. ” “
After severe pain, she received emergency treatment and the doctor prescribed antibiotics for what he thought was herpes labialis. ((((Herpes labialis It is caused by herpes simplex virus type 1 and can occur both inside and outside the mouth, but the cause of ulcerative pain is unknown and can only be found in the mouth. According to pen medicine.. ) The medicine made her feel better, but her discomfort returned.
“I’m back from education, and my throat hurt a little,” Drabros said. “I thought,’This will never go away, so I need to go to the doctor again.'”
She looked at the list of local otolaryngologists and promised to meet Dr. Diana Kirk, an otolaryngologist at Mount Sinai, an otolaryngologist in New York. At the appointment, Kirk had strong doubts about what she saw.
“Within a second, she was like,’I’m going to biopsy this right now,'” Drabros recalled. “(I) this was more serious than I expected.”
Tongue cancer in young population
For decades, people who developed tongue cancer looked almost the same: Men over 60 People who smoked and drank all their lives.
“We have begun to look anecdotally over the last decade … the transition to a younger age group, and younger means under 40, regardless of previous drinking and smoking history. “Masu,” Kirk said today. “Early evidence suggests that this rise is true, but in reality we don’t have all the data to say it is true.”
“We are doing some research to find out more about whether cancer is actually increasing in the younger age group and to understand where and why cancer is increasing.” She added.
According to Kirk, the symptoms of tongue cancer are:
“If you have an ulcer on your tongue that lasts for more than two weeks, you should definitely check it, not just because of a tooth problem or ulcer pain,” Kirk said. “If it continues, you need to have a biopsy.”
People often ignore ulcerative pain because they are so common.
“That’s why the presentations, especially for young people, are delayed because they think it’s just ulcer pain,” or “it’s a tooth problem,” Kirk said. Told. “They just wait for it to disappear.”
Stage 2 to stage 4 cancer
A biopsy of Drablos showed that she had cancer of the tongue, and a follow-up scan did not detect cancer of the outside of her tongue. So she was stage 2. .. The Neck dissection If the lesions are deeply transplanted, make sure they can reach all the cancers. Then the doctor needs to rebuild her tongue. The treatment plan was overwhelming.
“I’m just nodding and trying not to cry,” Drabros said. “She was trying to comfort her, but she seemed to know how much my life would change, given the way she was looking at me.”
On March 24, 2021, she underwent surgery and received a call on April 1, her 34th birthday. They found cancer in her neck. This means she was actually in stage 4.
“Surgery affected so many parts of my body. The flaps they used to reconstruct my tongue included a major surgery on my left arm, and then they skind from my left foot. I transplanted it, “she said.
In addition to neck dissection, she also had a tracheostomy. This is a surgical procedure that creates an opening from the neck to the trachea. “I felt that this very hurtful being was a lot of points,” she added.
Because the cancer was stage 4, Dravlos also received radiation and chemotherapy.
“I was trying to prepare myself mentally for treatment,” she said. “My tongue definitely surprised me, the look and appearance of it.” She remembered that it was particularly swollen.
She experienced radiation burns on her neck and generally felt sick. However, when she finished her treatment around June 2021, she began to improve. She took a walk with her mother to improve her fitness and learned how to give occupational therapy to reuse her tongue. Her tongue has muscles from her arms, so it doesn’t work naturally. She still struggles to eat, drink and talk, but she was able to return to dance. For days she is in awe of how far she has come.
“My body is wonderful and how can I heal it,” she said. “I’m really sad about some losses, but then I’m incredibly grateful and deeply grateful than I had previously had cancer.” She from last year’s catastrophic ones. This year she hosted SPOHNC’s dance performances and fundraising activities to help people with oral, neck and head cancers as a way to regain their birthday.
“Dance was the best medicine and I was able to feel and express my emotions mentally,” she said. “I also danced (for fundraising) …. there is beauty from pain.”