Does it ever heal???

longtermsurvivor said:

I hear you

I think it depends a lot on exactly where the radiation was centered.  I have had radiation twice as well, spaced 13 years apart.  The first was for BOT cancer, and I didn't notice any of this.  The second was ffor cancer in the soft palate, so the radiated field was a lot higher.  Although never said, I am sure the radiation intersected my maxillary sinuses and tear ducts.  Toward the end of radiation I had tremendous nasal and lacrimal drainage.  Enough that if I went outside in cold weather, I was blinded by tears.  For almost a year following rads, my nose ran terribly when I tried to eat.  Now I just have this huge discnarge from my sinuses, won't bother to describe it.  It may very well be permanent, though the treatment physicians aren't exactly deffinite when  I ask them.  To me, its a small price to pay.

 

best to  you

 

Pat

Yes it is a small price to pay...just all the other things like eating and talking thrown on top of the little things get me down sometimes. You just don't realize how much social interaction you miss when you can't eat normally and are afraid to choke and shoot your lunch on everyone at the table. I guess I just miss being normal...sorry don't mean to be a downer just being honest. Thank God my family loves and puts up with me : ) that is definitely why fight so hard to be around for them.

thanks,

john j

KTeacher said:

Not something

that is mentioned often here.  I've gone the radiation route 3 times now.  The first time I had a non ending clear runny nose.  I had Kleenex everywhere.  I let people know to let me know that I needed to use my Kleenex, I also had no feeling and didn't know unless I looked down and saw snot on my shirt!  Oh well, I taught Kindergarten, so I was in good company!  This last time I had a sinus abcess during chem,rad treatment.  Got to take a week off for surgery.  Radiation was directed at eye sinus area.  Now so dry.  Need to use a sinus wash with saline to blow my nose, and yes, quite a yucky job!  Need to do this often, should do it daily.  Thanks for mentioning, this topic doesn't come up often.

Geez I can't I imagine radiation 3x! I did it twice and I really do not want to do it again and to be honest don't think that they would even let me. You are a soldier for sure and thanks for replying for all of us that feel like we are the only ones on earth going through this crazy stuff helps SO much in our own fights! It really helps when I'm feeling sorry for myself. 

Thank you again and God bless!

john j

debbiejeanne said:

john, i very much understand

john, i very much understand about not comfortable having social interaction.  i went 1.5 yrs w/o being able to talk so i had NO social interaction.  now that i can talk i do, but i have to worry about my food coming back up my throat when i talk.  thats a big problem so i try to talk as little as possible until about 10 min after my last bite.  plus i have to chew and chew and chew (so the food is small enuf to not get stuck in throat) so my lunch partner is always waiting awhile on me to finish my meal, grrr.  they don't seem to mind tho, it just bothers me a little...lol.  like u, i miss be'n normal but we have to accept the fact that, like john says, we are ABI-NORMAL.  this is the new norm for us.  i hope u r able to begin to accept ur new normal and move forward.  best of luck to u.

dj

Thank you for your very kind words! I think we all sometimes (I guess I'm speaking for myself) write in because we are feeling like we have it worse than anyone, but others have it even worse and they are still happy and inspiring to us all! Thank you so much and God bless you : )