Pop goes the jaw bone

Goalie
Goalie Member Posts: 184
in Head and Neck Cancer #1
A funny thing happened to me on the way to the shower.

Anyway, as I was preparing to do this yesterday I turned my head way to one direction and felt a POP in my jaw near the joint. It hurt some but not too bad. Today when I saw the rad onc he said that it is possible that it is an old adhesion or scar tissue from the neck dissection finally letting go. He posited that I would now be able to eat Subway (or a Whopper, I added). Later when my wife was at the dentist she described the pop to him and he came up with the same diagnosis. I don't know. It seems like I might be able to open up wider which would be nice since I have had to do too much fitting things in sideways. I'll see better at dinner tonight.

Has anyone else had this?

BTW, while he did order a scan for next week, he says he doesn't want to see me for another six months. It's sort of a quasi-NED to be confirmed. I am now eight months out from treatment and six from the neck dissection. It is one year ago this week that I saw the surgeon for the first time and he poked me and gagged me and knew it was cancer.

BTW2, the comic I pointed to is really rather dark humor that only cancer survivors will get.

Comments

  • Greend
    Greend Member Posts: 678
    #2
    BTW2
    I laughed out loud (or as my daughter says ROFLMAO)
  • Skiffin16
    Skiffin16 Member Posts: 8,305 Member
    #3
    TMJ
    Temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJD or TMD), or TMJ syndrome...

    Could be a possibilty to some degree... I know the last times at the dentist, I couldn't get my mouth opened far enough. He kept having to tilt my jaw and unlock it every time he was in there. Finally he just stuck a rubber block in to keep it open.

    HONDO has it sever, he can barely open his mouth wide at all..actually just open his mouth, wide isn't even a consideration if I remember correctly.

    Best,
    John
  • Hondo
    Hondo Member Posts: 6,636 Member
    #4
    Skiffin16 said:

    TMJ
    Temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJD or TMD), or TMJ syndrome...

    Could be a possibilty to some degree... I know the last times at the dentist, I couldn't get my mouth opened far enough. He kept having to tilt my jaw and unlock it every time he was in there. Finally he just stuck a rubber block in to keep it open.

    HONDO has it sever, he can barely open his mouth wide at all..actually just open his mouth, wide isn't even a consideration if I remember correctly.

    Best,
    John

    Hi Goalie

    Please tell me exactly how you popped your Jaw again so the nest time I am on my way to the shower I can do the same thing with my Jaw. lol

    I am glad you have some relief from this jaw problem thing, I am still at only 20mm of opening but it is way better than the 14mm I have lived with for so long. As they say Hell live is so sweet now I can almost get a fork full of food in my mouth without spilling it all over the table.

    Wishing you well next week on the scan
    Hondo
  • sweetblood22
    sweetblood22 Member Posts: 3,228
    #5
    Hondo said:

    Hi Goalie

    Please tell me exactly how you popped your Jaw again so the nest time I am on my way to the shower I can do the same thing with my Jaw. lol

    I am glad you have some relief from this jaw problem thing, I am still at only 20mm of opening but it is way better than the 14mm I have lived with for so long. As they say Hell live is so sweet now I can almost get a fork full of food in my mouth without spilling it all over the table.

    Wishing you well next week on the scan
    Hondo

    Same request as Hondo!
    Oooh! Ooo! Me too! That would be swell. I sometimes forget to put a napkin on my chest. If I forget, I end up picking food out of my cleavage...

    ...just sayin'

    It would be swell to be able to bite into a sandwich, and keep most of the forkful of food in my mouth. ;-)
  • fisrpotpe
    fisrpotpe Member Posts: 1,349 Member
    #6
    sweetblood22 said:

    Same request as Hondo!
    Oooh! Ooo! Me too! That would be swell. I sometimes forget to put a napkin on my chest. If I forget, I end up picking food out of my cleavage...

    ...just sayin'

    It would be swell to be able to bite into a sandwich, and keep most of the forkful of food in my mouth. ;-)

    would be
    for me it would be nice to open mouth wider. my thought would be... even if i could open and take a large bite there is no way to chew, add moisture and swallow the large bite. maybe just maybe it is a good thing we can not open farther.

    i still wish i could open father.

    John
  • hawk711
    hawk711 Member Posts: 566
    #7
    fisrpotpe said:

    would be
    for me it would be nice to open mouth wider. my thought would be... even if i could open and take a large bite there is no way to chew, add moisture and swallow the large bite. maybe just maybe it is a good thing we can not open farther.

    i still wish i could open father.

    John

    same thing
    I did mouth opening exercises during treatment and it helped me a lot I think. I just opened my mouth till it hurt and closed it about 20 times a day..I have good range now, but still can't do the Subway sandwich, I have to do open face mostly....one piece of bread is o.k. but two is just too thick....Let me know how you all find a way to POP your jaw
  • Hondo
    Hondo Member Posts: 6,636 Member
    #8
    hawk711 said:

    same thing
    I did mouth opening exercises during treatment and it helped me a lot I think. I just opened my mouth till it hurt and closed it about 20 times a day..I have good range now, but still can't do the Subway sandwich, I have to do open face mostly....one piece of bread is o.k. but two is just too thick....Let me know how you all find a way to POP your jaw

    Jaw opening
    Sound like we are all in the same boat when it comes to the jaw opening thing. Maybe someday someone will find a way to help us all but for now life is good just being alive.

    Hondo
  • DrMary
    DrMary Member Posts: 531 Member
    #9
    Jaw Progress
    Doug's jaw has been a bit more sore since the "popping" and his lymphedema/swelling in that area is worse (I can usually get most of it cleared out with 10-15 minutes of massage, but that one area is resisting now). I'm hoping that is the after-effect of ripping an adhesion, and it will get back to the "normal" of a week ago.

    However, he does seem to be able to open his jaw a bit wider as a result - it's unfortunate that it was a random motion that caused it, otherwise I'm sure he'd be glad to post detailed instructions beyond what he wrote. We're not talking "can eat a sub without problems" - it's just that the fork, food and mouth no longer have to align perfectly to work (he compared his previous eating experiences to the PanAm shuttle docking with the space station in "2001").

    On the other hand, he still dropped a forkful of food that was headed for his mouth the other day. . .
  • Hondo
    Hondo Member Posts: 6,636 Member
    #10
    DrMary said:

    Jaw Progress
    Doug's jaw has been a bit more sore since the "popping" and his lymphedema/swelling in that area is worse (I can usually get most of it cleared out with 10-15 minutes of massage, but that one area is resisting now). I'm hoping that is the after-effect of ripping an adhesion, and it will get back to the "normal" of a week ago.

    However, he does seem to be able to open his jaw a bit wider as a result - it's unfortunate that it was a random motion that caused it, otherwise I'm sure he'd be glad to post detailed instructions beyond what he wrote. We're not talking "can eat a sub without problems" - it's just that the fork, food and mouth no longer have to align perfectly to work (he compared his previous eating experiences to the PanAm shuttle docking with the space station in "2001").

    On the other hand, he still dropped a forkful of food that was headed for his mouth the other day. . .

    Hi DrMary
    Sad to say we all have similar problems with the jaw. I went to see my Oncl Dentist at MD Anderson a few weeks ago and was complaining a little about my jaw and why I can’t opening it more after using all the different devices they gave me to use. He looked at me and said you are one of the lucky ones; you have been radiated twice and can still open your Jaw and chew. I have people who have been radiated only once and can’t open there jaw at all and others who can but lost the ability to chew. All I could do was to say wend we think we have it bad there is always someone else who has it worse. I don’t feel so bad now when I miss the target and the food falls on the table, I look at the wife and just laugh and say I will do better the next time.

    All the best to you
    Hondo

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