{"id":9425,"date":"2025-12-07T15:08:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T16:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/?p=9425"},"modified":"2025-12-10T21:34:46","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T21:34:46","slug":"i-woke-up-from-surgery-to-discover-my-arm-tattoo-was-on-my-tongue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/07\/i-woke-up-from-surgery-to-discover-my-arm-tattoo-was-on-my-tongue\/","title":{"rendered":"I woke up from surgery to discover my arm tattoo was on my tongue"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\"Split\t<\/div>
Harriet woke up with her tattoo on her tongue (Picture: SWNS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Two days after turning 18, Harriet Trewhitt got a tattoo on her left forearm.<\/p>\n

The design inked into her skin was of a semicolon and was intended to represent the struggle she had been facing with depression<\/a> since the age of 12.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Flash forward a few years, and Harriet\u2019s original tattoo is no longer in the place she had it done, but can instead be found on her tongue.<\/p>\n

The acting student, from North Yorkshire, ended up having her tattoo moved earlier this year when she underwent a skin graft for cancer<\/a> treatment.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Harriet\t<\/div>
The student was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma (Picture: Harriet Trewhitt \/ SWNS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Harriet was diagnosed with tongue cancer in May 2025, after months of dealing with a painful ulcer. <\/p>\n

\u2018I got an ulcer in December 2024 and didn’t think much about it. The doctors sent me to the dentist, who then sent me to A&E,\u2019 the 21-year-old said.<\/p>\n

\u2018The doctors thought it was trauma from my seizures from where I bite my tongue, but when it didn’t heal, they rushed me for a biopsy and discovered it was squamous cell carcinoma.\u2019<\/p>\n

Doctors<\/a> performed surgery to remove the cancer, but this meant she needed to have further emergency surgery to reconstruct half of her tongue.<\/p>\n

It took doctors from University College London<\/a> six hours and was completed using skin and blood vessels from her left arm.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018I didn\u2019t know you could do that until they did,\u2019 she said. \u2018They tried to do it from my leg, but there was too much fatty tissue.’<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Harriet's\t<\/div>
Doctors had to do a skin graft to reconstruct her tongue (Picture: Harriet Trewhitt \/ SWNS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When Harriet came to, she struggled to speak and had to undergo months of speech therapy to regain her voice, ahead of doing a master’s degree in 2026.<\/p>\n

\u2018Initially, the recovery was very difficult. It’s a time when I was dealing with a lot of flashbacks. When I went into surgery, I got intubated, which was very scary,\u2019 she recalls.<\/p>\n

\u2018I was in hospital for 10 days, but I was very lucky with the team at the university college in London, they were so caring and kind.\u2019<\/p>\n

Harriet has also experienced an issue with her salivary glands following the surgery, which she never anticipated.<\/p>\n

Salivary glands produce saliva and are crucial for moistening food, digestion (breaking down starches\/fats), speech, taste, and oral hygiene.<\/p>\n

However, she’s \u2018learning to live with it\u2019 and has managed to start acting again.<\/p>\n

\u2018We did a performance of Anything Goes in October. To be able to do it without an issue was incredible.\u2019<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Harriet's\t<\/div>
The tattoo used to be on her left forearm (Picture: Harriet Trewhitt \/ SWNS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She’s also recreated her tattoo since her surgery, as the meaning of it was so important to her.<\/p>\n

\u2018I’ve had severe depression and anxiety<\/a> since I was 12 years old or so. A semicolon is used when authors want to end a sentence but carry on,\u2019 she explained. \u2018[In this case], the person is the author and the semicolon is their life. It’s a person wanting to end their life, but they’ve decided to carry on.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018I felt really bare without it, so I had to have it redone.’<\/p>\n

So now she has a semi colon inked on her right arm and underneath her tongue, but she claims the latter doesn\u2019t phase her.<\/p>\n

\u2018It’s just a weird thing about me to have it there now, but it doesn’t bother me,\u2019 Harriet adds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t\tWhat is squamous cell carcinoma?\t\t\t<\/h2>\n
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According to Cancer Research UK, squamous cell carcinoma<\/a> (SCC) is the most common type of tongue cancer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Squamous cells\u00a0are the flat, skin-like cells that cover the lining of the mouth, nose, larynx, thyroid, and throat. Squamous cell carcinoma is the name for a cancer that starts in these cells.<\/p>\n

The main symptoms to look out for are:<\/p>\n