Looking for tips!

I used the over the counter mouthwash for dry mouth and that helped some.  My doctor tended to ignore my questiosn about the pain in my mouth and trouble swallowing, He was like I am taking care of the cancer and that's all I do.  I finally press the doctors to help and keep gently saying that I needed help, they gave me serveral perscriptions that did help.  I think the cancer doctors are so consentrated on the cancer part they forget about the side effects.  I suggest you pin them down on what can help.  Its was hard to do when I was worried that I did not want to upset the doctors who were critical to saving my life, but if I could not eat and function I would not have had the strengtth to go through with the treatment.  Also talk to the nurses and often they can get the docs to pay attention.  

At first I avoided the pain meds, tough guy.  My son sort of forced me to take them, wow did they help.  I was a little worried about adiction, but talking to a doctor friend of mine he said that as long as I was in that much pain there was almost no chance of adiction as the pain meds were just blunting the pain and he never heard of anyone getting addicted who was in real pain.

Congratulations on being a new mom! I can't imagine going through all the treatments while having a little one. You are one tough lady. I had SCC, base of tongue, non smoking, non HPV, with radiation and chemo (Erbitux ), but no surgery. Your mouth sores should start to improve soon. My sore throat slowly improved over three months, but everyone is different. Magic Mouthwash and baking soda/salt water solution helped somewhat, but what really worked was Hydrocodone.  My doctor also said not to worry about addiction. If you are not experiencing excess mucus yet, be prepared. My doctor recommended a humidifier and Mucinex at night which did the trick. As far as swallowing, you might be able to get exercises to strengthen your tongue muscles. If you've been reading these posts, you've probably seen people say healing takes a long time. I'm six months out of treatment and feel great, but it took about five months to get there. Drink lots of water, take your vitamins, get the best nutrition you can, and be patient. Soon we'll be celebrating your baby saying his first words and your doctor saying ,"NED!" Blessings!

Sorry you find yourself here. I had pretty much the same thing, hemiglossectomy followed by radiation and chemo, but the chemo had to be stopped early because of side effects. I remember the worst time for me was the tail end of the radiation and the weeks that followed. I’d say it was about at least four or more weeks from when I finished to when I started to feel like I was improving, and even then I was very disappointed in the pace of my recovery. It was slower than I expected, and it was not on a straight line as I expected, but had a series of ups and downs.

I wish I could give you some tips on handing the pain, but nothing seemed to work well for me. The magic mouthwash and lidocane provided some temporary relief, so I’d suggest you use them as liberally and often as you’d like. I might as well have been popping candy for all the good the pain meds did. In fact at one point several weeks after the radiation, I saw a pain management doctor who offered to put me on methadone. At that point I decided to stop all the pain meds completely, and it turned out I was no worse off without them.

Probably my only real advice is to believe that you will bet better. There were times where I just felt I never would get better, and those moments were very depressing. Just keep telling yourself you will get better and focus on the many good days yet to come. My radiation doctor insisted she never had a patient that didn’t recover, and she assured me that I wasn’t going to be the first. I know how hard it is to believe it when you’re feeling the way you do now, but be patient. Better days will be ahead for you. I’m about two and a half years post radiation, and except for some annoying side effects (mostly dry mouth and sensitivity alcoholic beverages, and spicy or tangy foods), everything for me is as normal as it was prior to the cancer or treatment.

 I wish you all the best for a speedy recovery.

Congrats on the little one!  Ours was 6 months when my husband got diagnosed. While she added some challenges to the hard situation, I call her my joy child since she brought me joy even during the hardest periods. 

the Glutamine helped. Eventually, narcotics were a must. I read a lot of the old posts and got some good ideas to try. 

mrs, i'm so very, very sorry for your situation!  how awful and what terrible timing.  i'm sorry you need to be here but very glad you found this site.  it is a wonderful site with caring and helpful people.  we will do all we can to help you through.  i never had sores so i can't help but wanted to welcome you to the family.  congratulations on being a new mom!!  what a wonderful blessing!

God bless you and your family,

dj