I would think when you see your doctor--is it this Wednesday--he will surely take care of this! I am shocked really that the nurse or PA is not concerned about your pain and lack of mobility. I would think a PT appointment would be suggested by them to anyone with shoulder issues such as you describe.

A physical therapist, a speech therapist, an occupational therapist--any of these can be a certified lymphedema specialist. They also have to do extra training to know about head and neck. I found this out when I did the research to find someone near me. I think that the lymphedema massage is one of the more beneficial things I learned to do. It was well worth the trouble it took for me to find someone. And it was no problem to get my doctor to prescribe it for me.

Hope you get some help this week. Some nurses are gatekeepers and seem to think the patient is exaggerating; thankfully most are not that way.
Anne

[quote=Kycabledog]I have been out of Radiation Therapy since May 25th, 2011 and have progressed really well since then. I can feel my saliva coming back, can eat most everything except spicy, but my problem seems to be pain just above the right shoulder blade and it seems to be getting worse over the last few weeks.

Trying to lift anything with the right arm and working extending my arm above my head and even driving is causing severe pain. Any clue as to what is going on? I have consulted both the radionocoligist and the surgeon, but they have no clue except that the radiologist did push on the area on the last visit and I almost passed out with pain.

He seems to think it is scar damage is from surgery and is more muscle and skeletal related then damage from the radiation, but I never had anything this bad until the radiation. Had an MRI done and I am scheduled for a Catscan with contrast in March, but don't think I can handle the pain much longer.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!!!!! [/quote]

What you are experiencing is common after treatment as well as documnented late efffects of radiation. Not sure what type of radiation you had but you must be diligent on neck excercises as well as general flexibility and aerobic excercise. First, check on the Livestrong website for Livestrong at the Y, a program free for cancer survivors and provides trainers specially trained to deal with post treatment issues in a group setting. Some people respond well to radiation and others don't. A number thrown out to me by a Neurologist that specializes in motor neuron diseases is that less than 1/2 of 1% of the head and neck cancer patients develop serious lifelong issues but even those are delayed with proper. Find a chiropractor that understands the scalene muscles of the neck and uses ART release techniques. It is much like accupressure versus bonecracking. You will benefit from one treatment but will require visits for pain relief any time it bothers you. Not all chirpractors use bone and joint adjustments; some only use the muscles to bring the spine and core back to neutral.

Also, for any men out there Reel Recovery is a great program to learn fly fishing while having a great time and it is also free. In a 3 day period we had some group sessions of about an hour or so maybe 5 times.

Stay on top of the neck and shoulder pain. It is very common especially if your traps, rhomboids and lats were toned or bulked up. As EricS stated, provide some more info as far as staging, primary tumor site, treatment, etc. and some better info can be directed towards you. Also, avoid deep tissue massage in the area with pain. Lighter, passive stretching in this area will gain more relief and someone doing deep tissue without understanding the damage from radiation could cause you more harm. Also, keep that non-HDL cholesterol below 100 because plaque issues in the carotid arteries of post radiation patients is much more serious than a non-radiated patient. Good luck and stay on top. It's the long-term pain that beats the body worse than anything, in my opinion. It causes your body to try and adjust to the pain by compensating using other muscles and neutral posture will reduce upper back, shoulder and neck pain as good as anything.

Ed