Swelling after Total Laragectomy

rdbaughman

I had my Total Laragectomy surgery on January 5th this year, comming up on 12 weeks ago. I still have a lot of swelling & my neck under my chin is hard as a rock as is my neck on both sides of my face. I have talked to my doctor about this & he does not seem to be concerned about this but I really don't like his attitude. I'm concerned enough to look for a second opinion at my Mom & Dads suggestion & I agree with them. My doctor/surgeon in my opinion has never had what I call a great bedside mannor. I think I know my body pretty well & something about this swelling just don't sit well with me considering it has been close to 3 months since my surgery. This morning I woke up & the swelling was a bit worse, so much that my right eye was just slightly swallen under the eye lid. I would go in today but I actually have an appointment tomorrow morning at 10am so i'm going to tough it out so to speak.
Has anyone out there had a Total Laragectomy & if so, how is your swelling. Please share with me how long & how much swelling you had.
Roger

George_Baltimore

No laryngectomy but...
Hi Roger, I haven't had a laryngectomy, yet anyhow. I am thinking seriously of having one performed since I'd rather be able to eat rather than talk as you know from previous correspondence on the board. My neck is also hard as a rock from the Rad treatments back in 2004. I had surgery back in June of last year for mandible necrosis. The bone graft failed and had to be taken out. Then a screw started working loose and the plate had to be removed also. I was very swollen in the lip and chin areas. It stayed that way for months until one of my docs set up an appointment for me at the hospital's Lymphedema Center. The swelling has finally gone down alot due to massage and a compression mask. For the last couple months, I've been going to the center twice a week for the massage therapy. You probably have the same problem that I have in that the neck inhibits the lymph drainage from the facial area. If you are on SS Disability, Medicare covers the cost of the Lymphedema therapy and if you have medi-gap insurance, that should take care of the balance. The compression mask however, they do not cover. Good luck!

longtermsurvivor

lymphedema
I've had quite bit in the way of interventions. Radiation in 1998. Radical neck dissection 1998. radical resection and reconstruction floor of mouth 2010. Radiation again 2011. All of these interventions lead to the type of swelling you mention. With each intervention the swelling has lasted longer.

The surgery I had in 2010 lead to very significant swelling. I had a mass under my chin and on my neck about the size of a softball. It was rock hard. It was resolving slowly, and after a year was down by 90%. Then I got cancer again and had radiation. Mot of this swelling came back. In addition my face became swollen. I'm a month out from radiation now, and i can't see there is much improvement yet. There probably will be eventually, but this is too early.

So I'm keeping things in perspective. First, I'm hoping to just live, and then I'm concerned about regaining my ability to eat. I'll worry about lymphedema in its own time, on down the road. My example shows it can take a very long time to recover lymphatic function after any of these interventions.

Hope this helps. I agree that if you and your doctor aren't on the same page, you probably should find one you resonate better with. That would be true whether you had a lymphedema problem or not.

Best to you.

Pat