Sandy,
I am sure your doctor doesn't want to over promise, but I doubt you will permanently lose a salivary gland - that would be very unusual for BOT treatment on Tomo.

As the doctor said, "no guarantees", but I was treated as if my primary was BOT (along with other possibilities).

I had several levels of nodes on both sides nuked from 50 to 70gy and my saliva is usually just fine and all my glands are pumping.

My bottom right salivary gland on the side of my Selective Neck Dissection is still somewhat swollen. It took the most hits, and my monthly ENT tells me "it is not a very happy camper, but it is dealing with the situation, working pretty well and getting over it".

Most Tomo patients get back good salivary function quite quickly. Mine was at its worst the month following Tx. My salivary flow tested in the normal range at my last month CCC visit.

I still have occasional but short dry mouth spells (an hour or less) and have noticeable dry mouth at night.

Last month everything in my mouth had healed to the point that both my monthly ENT and quarterly RO said if they didn't know, they would never suspect I had ever had radiation.

Also last month the lymph-edema went down by about 40% and is no longer noticeable.

I was told at the CCC that everything looks right on track for "perfect Tomo".

Now lets just hope my up coming PET results will be as good.

Hope for the best