Havent posted in awhile- little concerned

joannaw81
joannaw81 Member Posts: 185 Member

Hello guys,

I dont post much but ready everyday. So sad that therre are so many new people on this forum.

For those who know my mom's story she has been cancer free for 3 years and 10 months since her last surgery. She had total of 2 recurrances after original cancer diagnosed in 2010. anyway in the last couple of days she has some pain in the spot where she had her neck dissection and lymph nodes removed. I already made an appointment with her ENT for Tuesday but the anxiety keeps me awake. couple of months ago she had some pain as well around the scar tissue where she had her neck dissection so we went to the doctor and she had a CT scan which turned out clear. Last time though the pain would come and go and finally it went away completely but now it has been constant for 4 days and she even had to take pain killers.

I am really worried, any comments or thoughts are appreciated.

Besides I wanted to wish everyone lots of health and Very Merry Christmas!

Comments

  • wmc
    wmc Member Posts: 1,804
    Pain and neck dissection........

    Having a neck dissection can be so different on how it effects people, even mor if they had raidation. I had neck dissection on both sides level II ~ V. They also removed my lerynx at the same time. I never had radiation or chemo just surgery. They did cut from ear to ear, but did most of the work from the left side. The right side got stiches, which you can berley see if you look real hard. The left side got staples and that scar can be seen quite easy. I did get all the feeling back on the right side, and most days I wish I didn't. Now the left side is still numb from the bottom of the ear, [it was numb at the top after surgery] and down my neck and to the center of my throat and chin. They say it will always be numb because so much of the cutting was done from that side. Many have sholder pain or problems raising there arm over the shoulder, but mine is good and no problems. It might just come down how good the surgeon was, and how lucky you were as well.

    You said she has some pain where they did the surgery. Was it numb there before, or had feeling just no pain. If it was numb it might be getting some feeling back. I know as mine came back on the right side it did it slowly and had pain with getting the feeling back. If it wasn't numb it might be nerves comming back from radiation damage. I hope the pain goes away soon.

    Bill

  • Hondo
    Hondo Member Posts: 6,636 Member
    Hi Joannaw

     

    Having any type of surgery, it hard on the body even worse as we get older. I know your Mother has gone through hell there for a while but in the end she got passed it all. Also a lot of time and for no reason at all, we start having pain all over, most is due from the radiation or Chemo we took during treatment. I also live with a lot of pain and it is all due to long term radiation side effects, so don’t worry over pain, I pop a pill and move on.

    The main things to be looking for is areas that are hard lumps around the lymph nodes in the neck. Every time I see my ENT she always feels me up around the neck, I like her because I can joke with her, she is a great ENT doctor on our level. So I don’t worry much about pain unless I have pain with swelling.

     

     

    Happy holidays and Marry Christmas to you too.

     

    Please tell you Mother hello for me

    Tim   

  • joannaw81
    joannaw81 Member Posts: 185 Member
    Hondo said:

    Hi Joannaw

     

    Having any type of surgery, it hard on the body even worse as we get older. I know your Mother has gone through hell there for a while but in the end she got passed it all. Also a lot of time and for no reason at all, we start having pain all over, most is due from the radiation or Chemo we took during treatment. I also live with a lot of pain and it is all due to long term radiation side effects, so don’t worry over pain, I pop a pill and move on.

    The main things to be looking for is areas that are hard lumps around the lymph nodes in the neck. Every time I see my ENT she always feels me up around the neck, I like her because I can joke with her, she is a great ENT doctor on our level. So I don’t worry much about pain unless I have pain with swelling.

     

     

    Happy holidays and Marry Christmas to you too.

     

    Please tell you Mother hello for me

    Tim   

    Thank you so for responding

    I knew I could count on both of you. There isnt too many people left that I communicated with during my mom's treatment but you guys are atill so faithful. I really appreciate that, I do hope the pain is nothing however it's hard not to worry. I still think my mom is one of the lucky ones and I hope it stays that way. Hondo, I said hello to my mom and she says Hello back and THANK U!

    I wil keep you posted.

    Thank you again.