Anne,

I know that too many doctors / dentists are not necessarily good. The tooth that was extracted and the root canal tooth are next to each other so I gather the whole area is infected at this point. The oncologist is the one we trust the most and he is at a cancer center in Mobile, AL which is affiliated with MD Anderson. I did call the hyperbaric clinic and they don�t really know much either told us to call the oncologist, or the dentist or the ENT. The oncologist will be in Monday,
The oncologist has an oral surgeon who he referred us to previously and maybe we can see him again. This oral surgeon is also not �cancer� oral surgeon, but the oncologist did refer us to him. He just saw Michael once, thought that both teeth should be extracted ASAP � about a year ago. Michael didn�t want to do that at that time. Now he had one of them extracted and the root canal on the other. Life just gets too complicated sometimes. I guess I just want someone to promise me it will all get better soon and life can go on. Hopefully the antibiotics will take care of the infection.

Thank you.

Barbara,
I understand completely about not wanting teeth extracted. My husband told me if I ever had to have a tooth extracted it would be big trouble because having formerly been a tooth grinder the bone is extremely dense. So I try to do the best I can to avoid that scenario. Fortunately I used to have teeth that did not decay--have only one restoration in my mouth which is a porcelain crown. Yeah, I joke a little bit that my teeth did not decay but I got oral cancer.

Sounds like that first oral surgeon might be the one to see, though, if it doesn't resolve here soon. Wishing you the best!
Anne

I thought about your post for much of the day today. Something came to me that could help this make sense. Even though I had radiation in 2007, my immune system is still very delicate. My bloodwork numbers come up on the low side all the time. So I end up being very careful not to be around anyone who even has a cold as I will pick things up so easily. Since my immune system is now compromised, I also get infections easily. Could it be possible that your husband is similar to me? That his bloodwork numbers like the white count and red counts are on the low side. That would make him more susceptible to having trouble getting over a small infection, maybe making it much harder to treat? Just a thought.

Did your husband get tubes put in his ears to do the HBO? Some facilities insist on a patient getting tubes prior to doing HBO. I ended up getting them put in from having ear pain. Then one came out and I ended up getting a new set of tubes before I did my last 30 dives. My vision was getting pretty bad but it did return to normal about a month or 2 after I finished the HBO.

Christine,

Thanks for your thoughts. Michael has his primary medical care done through the local VA here and they do his blood work and it generally looks pretty good. He really doesn�t get sick that often. He does still have the on-going cervical neck / shoulder pains- osteoporosis, bone spurs, etc. He tried acupuncture, and he didn�t think it helped much. But as far as colds, flues etc he stays pretty healthily. He does get tired more easily than he used to. We actually �argue� about which of us is the most tired sometimes. I still think I am � but then I still work full time, have a cardiac condition (with no symptoms other than being tired).

No, he didn�t get tubes with the HBO. His (and my) hearing was pretty bad prior to it. He did actually just (on Tuesday) get two new hearing aides this week from the VA. I am not sure how much he actually worn them yet or how much he will wear them (another thing we �argue� about is which of us is deafer), but I am not a veteran so no VA hearing aides for me. I think his eyesight did get pretty bad for a while with the HBO, but seems better now � he says it isn�t back to where it was pre HBO. We both need current eye exams.

Good news was he wanted to go out to dinner last night and was really hungry and ate a lot � more than I have seen him eat at one time for a long time. I assume that means he is feeling better. He has been on several rounds of antibiotics for a number of years for various things � UTIs and other pre- extraction dental infections (maybe he does get infections easily so maybe my first paragraph was wrong). You could have the correct idea about the immune system issues. Anyway I do worry about him becoming resistant to the antibiotics. I do think doctors prescribe them too quickly for people though sometimes.

Thanks for your in-put. After cancer (and I am really very fond of him), I just get really scared with any little thing that is wrong with him and this infection business is scary especially since it is so relatively long after the actual extraction and root canal. He goes back to the dentist August 2 and hopefully this round of meds will have completely cleared it up.

Thanks again. I am so glad this forum is here - it really does help a lot when something comes up which is frightening and was very helpful when we were in the acute phase of the treatment.

Michael went back to the dentist today and he says his extraction is not healing and he thinks he is getting Osteonecrosis. The dentist wants to talk with the oncologist ASAP. I have a call into the oncologist, but am scared. What do they do for this? He did all the right things with the hyperbaric, antibiotics etc. Help, please..

Is he still getting HBO treatments? Sometimes they have to repair the jaw - I believe... Someone else who knows more than me will chime in... Good luck and I'll sat some prayers!

Cheryl,

No, he isn't still getting HBO treatments - he got the 10 following the extractions and that ended at the end of April. He is scheduled with the oncologist on Thursday. He is off today and his nurse already mentioned more antibiotics and more HBO as possible treatments. Michael is now saying he doesn't want any more HBO - says he still can't see or hear normally since the first round. I am hoping he will change his mind if that is the recommended treatment. One major problem is that none of these people have seen many oral cancer patients or treated osteonecrosis. His cancer center is affiliated with MD Anderson however. It is just really frightening getting this relatively close to the five year mark and now this.

HBO is used for osteoradionecrosis. Sometimes a picc line with IV antibiotics are done along with the HBO. It makes me nervous seeing specialists who are not familiar with oral cancer patients. We are a different breed! There are many little things that must be paid attention to when treating one of us OC survivors.

If Michael doesnt want to do what is necessary then he wont get better. How about showing him these posts and what other OC patients have said about this? It cant hurt. He really needs to understand that none of us like going thru all this stuff but there isnt a choice. Either do what the doctors say or you dont get better. I really hope he will think it over and decide to comply with his doctors orders. If not and he has osteoradionecrosis, things will get very bad for him. It will cause intense pain and could lead to needing a mandibulectomy which is removal of his jaw. That is one surgery I wouldnt wish on my worst enemy! It took me about a year to recover from it. So Michael really needs to weigh all his options and make a decision. Hope he makes the right choice!!!

Christine,

Thanks for your response. Michael usually does listen to his oncologist and yesterday when I mentioned HBO again he didn�t fuss as much as he did before. I guess we both just wished life wasn�t so hard sometimes, but we all do. He claims his vision and hearing aren�t back to where they were before the HBO � his hearing wasn�t good before it all started. He recently got hearing aides and he isn�t using them much at all so he isn�t adjusted to them yet. I have offered previously to let him read the posts on the forum and he has briefly a couple times � I will try again. I think both of us want our lives to be more than just dealing with cancer and its aftereffects. Just so much of it around � just this week I have three new people in my life with cancer scares/ diagnoses. Thanks again you do seem to be the HBO expert.

Agreed - I know the feeling of not wanting to give up your life to this disease - so I compartmentalize - I do what I have to - there are certain things you have to do that normally aren't part of your routine - but I work them into my day get them over with then go on living my life. - even when I was in rads - I would do my treatments then i would do something for me if I felt up to it!! Like go to whole foods, shop a little, drop by my favorite vegan restaurant. So you get it over with then reward yourself. GOod luck! Hopefuly he does the treatments.