Hi everyone, I haven't posted in a while. Lots been going on lately.
My mom finished her IMRT treatments July 3rd.
She is 71yrs had partial glossectomy done first and then IMRT treatments. She was a stageII.

That first week post treatment she had some mouth sores, but they went away. Then a week or so later she started having lots of pain, started around her jaw and would move to the top of her head and would come and go. She described them as headaches. She would literally put ice packs on the top of her head because it hurt that much. Then she would have pain in her gums when she would brush her teeth.
When she would talk it is so hard to understand her. She said her tongue felt swollen. Most of the time she won't talk because she says the more she talks it makes her mouth/jaw and tongue hurt.
It just all hit her at once. She did fine during her IMRT treatments. She had no visual signs on her neck or skin area, that you would have known she had radiation.
Went back to see the RO and ENT who did her surgery. They said just the side effects from the radiation.
She is now on oxycontin 2 x day, taking percocet for breakthrough pain. They put her on a dose of steroids for about 2 weeks, and now she is on neurontin 3 x day. She has noticed minimal improvement with all these medications.
She can't eat anything but yogert, boost and baby food. She is also having alot of mucus in her mouth as well.
I was just so shocked because she did so well during treatment and to have all these side effects to start 2 wks post IMRT.
The RO said most of her pain is nerve related.
He told her it could take 6-8 months to recover.

I am just really worried about her.

Any thought from anybody would be greatly appreciated.

I have questioned them doing a CT scan or something just to make sure nothing else is going on and he said doing a CT scan at this point would show him nothing. That she is just having the after effects from the radiation.

I thought the IMRT was to have less side effects.


I am really worried about her.
Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Did anyone who had IMRT treatments experience that much pain?

Thanks, Michelle