I'm hope I do this right, I've never been on a forum site before. Well I'm 60 years old, married for 31 years, have 3 grown kids all doing great, because they're not living at home with us, and I get cancer. I work in customer service for a local college and teach defensive driving classes here in AZ. My throat started getting hoarse in October of 2012, nothing major but my voice was getting weaker. I saw my primary care doctor in January 2013 and he felt for lumps and since he couldn't feel anything he suggested I get more rest. Several months later I called for a referral of a throat specialist. Met the specialist in early June and he discovered a nodule on my right vocal chord and scheduled me for surgery on July 1st to remove the nodule. After surgery the Doctor told me it was stage 1 cancer and that he removed 99.9%. He suggested radiation treatment to get rid of the rest. I was scheduled for 33 treatments of targeted radiation a month later. On September 20th I completed the treatments and I'm now in recovery. Now I'm just praying and hoping to get my voice and energy back. I'll be asking questions about recovery and I'm hoping for some help. When will I be able to talk again? Should I try talking or will that hurt my healing?
Should I gargle? Thanks for this opportunity to learn more and if I could be of any assistance to others I'd be happy to help if possible.

Wow, are you ever a trooper. You and the wife faced the beast head on, pretty much by yourself, and so far it looks like you're getting the best of it rather than the other way around.

Welcome to the family. I'm sure others will chime in later today to answer your questions, but since I'm only about to start radiation I am so far behind you as to not be much help.

Still, I (and I'm sure many others) would love to hear your story in detail. Reading what other's have faced and triumphed over actually helps many of us who are just starting the path.

So, congratulations on your results so far, many of us would love to be standing in your shoes.

Hi Bob, another welcome here. I am fairly new myself, and do not know enough to answer your questions, bu5t wanted to tell you that you have come to the right place. Everyone here is very knowledgeable and supportive.

Bob, welcome to OCF! Glad you have found our site to help you with your recovery.

Since you are one month post rads, you still have a long way to go in the recovery phase. This can be a very long and frustrating time for most patients. Seems like its ups and downs and not much progress in getting well. But, if you think back to when you first finished rads, Im sure you will agree you are doing much better. It takes about a month for every week of rads given, but for a complete recovery it can take a full 2 years. Dont despair, the good days will soon outnumber the setbacks and we will help you get thru this.

You may have alot of thick ropey mucous. That will just magically disappear one day very soon and it will turn into the dry mouth phase. For the mucous, a water pik on the lowest setting works wonders and does rinsing 4-6 times per day with 16oz warm water, 2 tsp baking soda and 2 tsp salt. If the salt burns cut it back to 1 tsp or if you have to eliminate it completely (try your best to handle the salt as it helps with healing). Sleeping with a vaporizer helps too. Your voice should come back, it may be a little raspy but that should eventually subside. Some patients seek out a speech pathologist to help regain their enunciation.

As far as your intake goes, every single day shoot for a minimum of 2500 calories and 48 oz of water. Drink as much as possible to get those swallowing muscles working. I know this seems like an impossible amount to take in but that is the minimum you need every single day for at least the next year. Right now even if you took in 7000 calories daily you wouldnt gain any weight. thats how hard your body is working to rebuild itself from what its been thru. Plus the more you take in, the better you will feel. Check with your doc and see if its ok to add some high protein whey powder to your diet. This also helps with healing faster but it can be a little hard on patients who have kidney issues so check first.

Hope the pointers Ive given you will help. Best wishes!!!

Thanks for the advice Christine, it's greatly appreciated. I'll do just and start adding calories and more water. Should I try not to talk? I don't want to cause more irritation or set myself back.

Regards,
The Bob

Welcome, Bob!

I echo everything that ChristineB has said, with the proviso that my personal opinion that 48 oz of water daily is not adequate for a healthy person, nearly everyone needs 64 oz daily (8 ea 8 oz glasses.) Insufficient water intake leads to constipation; and everything I've encountered in the Cancer fight leads to constipation, as it is! Insufficient hydration also leads to weight problems, among other things.

But everything else, especially her excellent advice about your nutrition requirements, specifically your need to consume enormous quantities of calories to fuel the survival fight!

[Edit to add:] I think your questions about gargling and speech are best answered by a physician familiar with your case, but if it were me, I'd very carefully try each and see how I felt.

But I've been accused of being a reckless risk-taker before...

Good Luck brother!

Bart

Its pretty common for patients to lose their voice when going thru rads. I lost mine for about 3 weeks. Check with your doc about if its okay to try to talk or if you should rest your vocal cords for a while. If I remember correctly, my doc said whispering was harder on them than talking was. I cant remember if they advised me to stay silent or not.

Thanks I'll do that.