Hi,

I now have mucositis, just got over thrush (due to meds), and now have a swollen node on my left side (opposite the side being treated). It's been there since the mucositis set in (about two weeks).

The node is tender and mushy, indicative of an inflamatory condition.

However, the doc wants a CT scan and a PET scan...

Now I'm sweating it out, confused, on edge, apprehensive, etc just like prior to having sugery or the RT.

I had a right neck dissection with a rt tonsilectomy, and am currently undergoing IMRT (with 9 treatments to go).

Did anyone have a node pop up during RT due to the trauma going on in the mouth?

Any help here would be greatly appreciated, as always.

Best Regards,


Oscar

Oscar
I though you were still having IMRT? From what I understand is that you generally have to wait until at least 4-6 weeks after RT before you can have a PET scan. If they do it earlier you pretty much expect false positives because of inflammation/healing. With CT they should be able to see the size of the nodes (and see if there others are involved).
One of my nodes was slightly enlarged (CT) but did not show any elevated uptake in the PET/CT scan in September. (End of RT July 19th).
Best, hopefully you get more responses here.

Markus

Hi Markus,

Yes, you are right--however, they feel they can discern between inflammation due to radiation and any tumor activity.

My gut feeling is that the node was enlarged due to thrush and mucositis...it since has gone down in size. However, they want to make sure. I guess I'll find out by this Friday what this swollen lymph node means.

I'm finding out that once you have scca, any anomalies are now suspicious and need to be investigated.

Oscar

Yes that (anomalies) is the part that sucks.
ANYTHING, raspy voice, sore throat blister etc can really upset the equilibrium that one thought was attained.

I had a scare myself in mid December. There were white spots which did not rub off.... Incidentally, this is how the story started in my case. Fortunately, after arranging to get biopsied on rather short notice (THANKS EMORY!!) it was only trush. It would be nice to return to blissful ignorance!!

Best, only 2 more weeks!

M