DAD 5 weeks out of treatment for tongue cancer-earpain

nicki74
nicki74 Member Posts: 55
edited March 2014 in Head and Neck Cancer #1
hello again, i would absolutely be lost without this website... my father finished treatment for stage 4 tongue cancer about 5weeks ago.. he looks great but the last few days he just wants to sleep.. there are days where he is out cutting grass and cutting weeds! God bless him... his first PET scan is august 11.. is it common to have ear pain after treatment? i remember him having the ear pain when this all started back in january, so now that its back im a bit worried.. he also has an ulceration under his tongue which can be from treatment or the cancer... anyone out there that has experienced this or has any knowledge? your input would be great! thanks again...

concerned daughter...

Comments

  • Scambuster
    Scambuster Member Posts: 973
    #2
    Nothing too unusual
    Hi Nicki,

    I think we all had weird aches pains in all different places after treatment.

    I had a shooting pain up the side of my head for a while. I also went deaf for a while which turned out to be fluid trapped in my Eustacian tubes (Inner ear). His body is trying to recover from all the damage done by the Rads and Chemo -so most of these are par for the course, and will pass.

    For the mouth ulcers, he needs to rinse his mouth with the Baking Soda/Salt mix or Biotene mouthwash very frequently. You might want to gte him some L-Glutamine powder as it's great for healing of the mouth tissues and over all well being and recovery. He can rinse and swallow it. Just mix a teaspoon in a glass of water. i am still doing a spoon a day 8 months out.

    Saying all this, if you do have concerns, you should see his Doctors.

    The fatigue should also pass but my view is the immune system needs repair to get things going properly. I used an array of Vitamin /supplements and my fatigue now is gone (after being a chronic fatigue sufferer for 15+years). It took a few months, but well worth the effort.

    All the best for now.
    Scam
  • Pumakitty
    Pumakitty Member Posts: 652
    #3
    I understand
    My dad just finished treatment for tongue cancer 4 weeks ago. Like your dad all he wants to do is sleep. He is just know starting to get some of his energy back. I would not worry about the wanting to sleep.

    My dad also had a very sore spot where the original tumor was. The chemo doctor told him it was a radiation burn, the reason it was so sore was that area got the biggest dose of rads. After he eats something it can get worse. He also rinised his mouth several times a day with the baking soda/salt mixture. He still continues to use that. If you are concerned about the sore I would talk with one of the doctors. They checked my dad's mouth every week during treatment.

    As far as ear pain he does not have that, but he does have mild headaches when he gets up in the morning. He takes some Tylenol and they go away. He also still has a mild sore throat.

    I understand how worried you are. I am doing the same thing. Everytime he does something different I am concerned that something is not right. Please continue to ask your questions because it does make you feel better.

    Kathy
  • JUDYV5
    JUDYV5 Member Posts: 392
    #4
    Aches
    I am not much further out of treatement then your Dad. (7 weeks) I still have aches and pains and feel like a infant (all I want to do is eat and sleep) at times. I was told the tumor was gone (yea !!) and the body takes a while to heal itself. Good luck with the scan.
  • nicki74
    nicki74 Member Posts: 55
    #5
    JUDYV5 said:

    Aches
    I am not much further out of treatement then your Dad. (7 weeks) I still have aches and pains and feel like a infant (all I want to do is eat and sleep) at times. I was told the tumor was gone (yea !!) and the body takes a while to heal itself. Good luck with the scan.

    thank you
    thank you so much to all of you who responded to my post.. i was up all night worried about this and the first thing i did this morning was get online to see if i received any responses! i do feel better now.. thank you! he was out today watering the garden today! haha.. gotta love it!
  • Pam M
    Pam M Member Posts: 2,196
    #6
    nicki74 said:

    thank you
    thank you so much to all of you who responded to my post.. i was up all night worried about this and the first thing i did this morning was get online to see if i received any responses! i do feel better now.. thank you! he was out today watering the garden today! haha.. gotta love it!

    Yay Dad
    Nicki,
    Glad to see that your Dad's up an about (even if it turns out to be just for a little while). Gotta love that garden, for giving him the motivation to get out and move. I will warn you, though - it may send Dad to the armchair or bed for a while - I got worn out easily for quite a while. It was very frustrating for me, being tired and needing a nap after what I considered to be a small bit of physical exertion. I also remember being excited, and bragging to my family when I was able to get down to just one nap a day. And yay, you - caregivers are a blessing.
  • nicki74
    nicki74 Member Posts: 55
    #7
    Pam M said:

    Yay Dad
    Nicki,
    Glad to see that your Dad's up an about (even if it turns out to be just for a little while). Gotta love that garden, for giving him the motivation to get out and move. I will warn you, though - it may send Dad to the armchair or bed for a while - I got worn out easily for quite a while. It was very frustrating for me, being tired and needing a nap after what I considered to be a small bit of physical exertion. I also remember being excited, and bragging to my family when I was able to get down to just one nap a day. And yay, you - caregivers are a blessing.

    hi pam
    thank you for your post! you hit it right on the head! he will be outside gardening, cutting the grass, watering plants and next two days he is out like a light and gets worried that the cancer isnt gone.. he gets concerned that he can feel so good one day and so icky the next few... i explain to him that how he is feeling is completely normal after such an intense treatment, and i know this from the knowledge i have gained from this website... so i think it makes him feel a little bit better.

    thanks again pam, and hands down to you for being as strong as you are.. God bless you..
  • Scambuster
    Scambuster Member Posts: 973
    #8
    nicki74 said:

    hi pam
    thank you for your post! you hit it right on the head! he will be outside gardening, cutting the grass, watering plants and next two days he is out like a light and gets worried that the cancer isnt gone.. he gets concerned that he can feel so good one day and so icky the next few... i explain to him that how he is feeling is completely normal after such an intense treatment, and i know this from the knowledge i have gained from this website... so i think it makes him feel a little bit better.

    thanks again pam, and hands down to you for being as strong as you are.. God bless you..

    Chronic Fatigue
    Hi Nicki,

    The 'Good one day and beat the next' is classic of Chronic Fatigue. Not that his will be chronic - but post treatment, he will most likely suffer the same symptoms. I found the way to handle this was to limit your activity so as not to overdo it on any given day. If you do, you will usually pay for it over the next few days. Does this sound familiar ? If so, he needs to learn to reduce his activity a little until he know roughly what he can handle without having the knock on effect. It's a bit like riding a motor cycle with no fuel gauge and you can go into your reserve tank without knowing it. Then the next day you can't go anywhere because you used up todays gas 'yesterday'...if that makes sense.

    As for a longer term fix, personally I have focused on diet and supplement to rebuild the immune system and revitalize essential organs like liver and kidney function. See my expressions page for the supplements etc.

    Hope this helps
    Scam
  • nicki74
    nicki74 Member Posts: 55
    #9
    Scambuster said:

    Chronic Fatigue
    Hi Nicki,

    The 'Good one day and beat the next' is classic of Chronic Fatigue. Not that his will be chronic - but post treatment, he will most likely suffer the same symptoms. I found the way to handle this was to limit your activity so as not to overdo it on any given day. If you do, you will usually pay for it over the next few days. Does this sound familiar ? If so, he needs to learn to reduce his activity a little until he know roughly what he can handle without having the knock on effect. It's a bit like riding a motor cycle with no fuel gauge and you can go into your reserve tank without knowing it. Then the next day you can't go anywhere because you used up todays gas 'yesterday'...if that makes sense.

    As for a longer term fix, personally I have focused on diet and supplement to rebuild the immune system and revitalize essential organs like liver and kidney function. See my expressions page for the supplements etc.

    Hope this helps
    Scam

    thank you scam-white spots under tongue..
    yes, you got it! haha.. unfortunately he has to stay away from the multi-vitamins and the greens, the good stuff, because he has a bloodclot and he was told to stay away from vitamin k...he was up and about yesterday alll day and today, not so much.. he is about 6weeks out of treatment and has white patches under his tongue, and i believe some bone exposure.. any words of wisdom i can share with him? he loves that i come on this site!

    thanks again!
  • Scambuster
    Scambuster Member Posts: 973
    #10
    nicki74 said:

    thank you scam-white spots under tongue..
    yes, you got it! haha.. unfortunately he has to stay away from the multi-vitamins and the greens, the good stuff, because he has a bloodclot and he was told to stay away from vitamin k...he was up and about yesterday alll day and today, not so much.. he is about 6weeks out of treatment and has white patches under his tongue, and i believe some bone exposure.. any words of wisdom i can share with him? he loves that i come on this site!

    thanks again!

    Sounds like Thrush
    Nicki,

    The white spots under the tongue sound like he has thrush in the mouth (Candida). There are couple of medications that usually fix it posted here many times. I think Diflucan and one other I think called Nyostatin. He may need to see the Doc fro a prescriptions for these.

    Natural yogurt is also good to hold in his mouth.

    Hope this helps.

    Scam
  • nicki74
    nicki74 Member Posts: 55
    #11
    Scambuster said:

    Sounds like Thrush
    Nicki,

    The white spots under the tongue sound like he has thrush in the mouth (Candida). There are couple of medications that usually fix it posted here many times. I think Diflucan and one other I think called Nyostatin. He may need to see the Doc fro a prescriptions for these.

    Natural yogurt is also good to hold in his mouth.

    Hope this helps.

    Scam

    Thrush
    hello scam, he has been treated for thrush a few times.. i hope that its just the thrush, but he has come so far already, that whatever steps we may have to take in the future, if he is not already cancer free, i am ready for.. he has been pretty positive so far, i just want him to stay that way..

    thank you again!
  • AJG
    AJG Member Posts: 29
    #12
    On the same boat!!

    My dad is 6 weeks post treatment with a lot of pain still and difficulty talking because his tongues is still swollen.  He gets his pet scan wednesday and we see the doc Friday for the result.  The thought of Friday being around the corner makes me so nervous it makes me sick:(   I pray this painful difficult journey is all worth it and the cancer is gone. I share your concern and worry.  I hope everything turns out well for your father too! 

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