Tongue Cancer
hi, i have been diagnoised with tongue cancer and told i also have some in a gland in my neck. I am currently waiting on radium treatment to start. to say this is a shock is an understatement - i thought i had an ulcer in my mouth! has anyone been through radium on the mouth? what can i expect?
any help/advice greatly appreciated...
Comments
Galway. To be honest all the info has gone over my head..just a bit lost at the moment!
Hi
I was diagnosed with tongue cancer February 2012. Like you, I had an ulcer, so when I was diagnosed with cancer I was devastated. I have since had an operation, but I had 35 sessions of radiotherapy and 5 chemo before surgery. For my radiotherapy I had to have a mouth guard made, plus a face mask. The mouth guard was to keep my mouth open during the procedure and the mask was to make sure I didn't move during it. Each session was 15 minutes, and each week they took a snap shot of my tongue, so those sessions lasted over 20 minutes. To be honest it was'nt so bad, but I developed a cough near the end of my treatment so it made the procedure hard to cope with. However, the nurses were fantastic and they would stop the process if I needed to cough or make myself more comfortable. I attended St. Lukes in Dublin for my treatment. Have you started yours yet? How are you feeling?
During my treatment i used a mouthwash and toothpaste called "Kin" which helped prevent blisters, but your doctor can advise you on using this. Also, anything I drank tasted of salt and my son discovered that by adding lemon to water it cancelled out the taste of salt.
Feel free to contact me and I might be able to answer any other questions you might have.
_________________________
Biopsy tongue 3/1/12 (49 yrs)
Diagnosed Cancer 1/2/12
PET CT 6 cm lesion 16/2/12
Surgery scheduled March, however larger lesion discovered, surgery postponed 9/3/12
PEG / Rig 15/3/12
5 Chemo 35 Radio
PET CT good response 2/10/12
Biopsy 18/10/12 cancer still there
MRI showed Lesion reduced 15/11/12
Surgery - Trachea, R hemiglossectomy R mod radical neck dissection, L anterolateral thigh flap 16/11/12
Diagnosis yPT2NoMo
Hi Northern Star
Sorry to hear about your diagnosis - it certainly isn't the most common one for sure but hopefully they will be able to plan a plan in place that will deal with it effectively.
I have been treated for a different cancer so I'm no good to you - however, you might find ringing the Irish Csncer Society helpline of use to you; you get to spread with a nurse and they may be able to put you in touch with someone who has been through a similar experience.
Take care & good luck
Think they call it radiotherapy now . No but I'm having radiotherapy for breast cancer. Really the side effects you have to look out for are burning and soreness. They will advise. What hospital you getting it in?