?prolonged healing time for persons with pre-diabetes

[mandyrn91]

mt momther had tongue cancer and she had 1/2 her tongue removed and rebuilt from a flap on her arm. this was a 16 hr surgery. she originally had cancer of the tongue diagnosed in april of 08 and had the lesion removed but no follow up chemo or radiation therapy so it was back by this summer where she underwent the long surgery only to have that fail. the dr said he felt that the arm had alot of fatty tissue and was not vascular enough but also blamed it on her diabetes. her primary dr diagnosed her with type 11 diabetes after one finger *****. since then she has never been over 110. she has another surgery where they used a flap from her chest wall. this one took . her tongue is pink and they are about to do a swallow eval. she has had a trach and ng tube since 10-9-08. the plan now is too try aneirobic steroids to help with the healing. she has a fistula from her mouth to her neck thus they have left the trach in even though she is breathing on her own. she still has an ng and i have told him i want a peg or j-tube placed prior to d/c home. what do the steroids do exactly and what would be the best tube feeding for her??? he now agrees the diabetes hasnt been the reason for the slow healing as she has been under 110 since admission with no diabetic meds oral or insulin. thank you ........................................mandy

[Dot.Calm]

"what do the steroids do exactly and what would be the best tube feeding for her???"
I can't answer these non-diabetes questions. Have you asked her surgeon about the tube or reviewed the pharmaceutical paperwork that accompanied the medicine?