#74090 05-07-2008 03:42 PM | Joined: Mar 2008 Posts: 46 Contributing Member (25+ posts) | OP  Contributing Member (25+ posts)
Joined: Mar 2008 Posts: 46 | I Had my first radiation treatment today. While taking the pictures I smelled an odd smell. Then during the actual treatment It got worse and now is stuck in my nose. Hard to describe the smell but it will not go away. Anyone else have this?
Stage 4A SSC Left Tonsil, back of tongue and Lymph nodes on left side. Tonsil removed, Chemo and Radiation treatments completed on June 26, 2008.
| | | | | Joined: Sep 2006 Posts: 8,311 Senior Patient Advocate Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) | | Senior Patient Advocate Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts)
Joined: Sep 2006 Posts: 8,311 | During and after my first Rad I told the Rad nurse that I smelled a burning flesh type smell and she said I was bonkers. I know I smelled something but I let it go and I don't remember smelling it again.
David
Age 58 at Dx, HPV16+ SCC, Stage IV BOT+2 nodes, non smoker, casual drinker, exercise nut, Cisplatin x 3 & concurrent IMRT x 35,(70 Gy), no surgery, no Peg, Tx at Moffitt over Aug 06. Jun 07, back to riding my bike 100 miles a wk. Now doing 12 Spin classes and 60 outdoor miles per wk. Nov 13 completed Hilly Century ride for Cancer, 104 miles, 1st Place in my age group. Apr 2014 & 15, Spun for 9 straight hrs to raise $$ for YMCA's Livestrong Program. Certified Spin Instructor Jun 2014.
| | | | | Joined: Feb 2007 Posts: 176 Senior Member (100+ posts) | | Senior Member (100+ posts)
Joined: Feb 2007 Posts: 176 | The xray that they take has a distinct (horrible) smell. I made a game of trying to hold my breath at just the right moment. It's been almost three years now, and just typing this is bringing that smell back to me...thanks for the reminder.
Rob
6-05, Left Tonsil-T1N2bM0 stageIVA, chemo(Cisplatin), radiation(6660cGy), neck disection, no PEG. HPV negative. (Doc suspects posit)
3-9-09 last of 30 HBO treatments.
| | | | | Joined: Mar 2008 Posts: 46 Contributing Member (25+ posts) | | OP Contributing Member (25+ posts)
Joined: Mar 2008 Posts: 46 | I am glad I am not the only one who has a brain cell loose. Because that is how they acted to me as well. I felt like telling them to lay down and I would zap them 9 times and see if they smelled anything.
Thanks, I am glad I am not the only one who has thought this.
John
Stage 4A SSC Left Tonsil, back of tongue and Lymph nodes on left side. Tonsil removed, Chemo and Radiation treatments completed on June 26, 2008.
| | | | | Joined: Sep 2006 Posts: 8,311 Senior Patient Advocate Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) | | Senior Patient Advocate Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts)
Joined: Sep 2006 Posts: 8,311 | I had one of the techs tell me (and she was my favorite) that she wouldn't get clamped down if her life depended on it. We looked at each other and I guess she thought about what she had said and that was the end of it.
David
Age 58 at Dx, HPV16+ SCC, Stage IV BOT+2 nodes, non smoker, casual drinker, exercise nut, Cisplatin x 3 & concurrent IMRT x 35,(70 Gy), no surgery, no Peg, Tx at Moffitt over Aug 06. Jun 07, back to riding my bike 100 miles a wk. Now doing 12 Spin classes and 60 outdoor miles per wk. Nov 13 completed Hilly Century ride for Cancer, 104 miles, 1st Place in my age group. Apr 2014 & 15, Spun for 9 straight hrs to raise $$ for YMCA's Livestrong Program. Certified Spin Instructor Jun 2014.
| | | | | Joined: Jan 2004 Posts: 104 Senior Member (100+ posts) | | Senior Member (100+ posts)
Joined: Jan 2004 Posts: 104 | Hi Johnny,
My dad noticed it too.
If it were me, I might have to try a bit of Vicks in my nose or maybe some rose oil to try to forget the smell today, or to not pick up on it during treatment.
Hoping it goes easy on you.
Dad had oral lichens planus, and oral leukoplakia before T2 SCC,2 nodes.
DX10/23/03
IMRT 12/29/03.30 rad,3 boost.
Brachytherapy 3/8-3/11/04.
Recurrence Nov07 Stage IV.
4 Surgeries
No rads, no chemo
I have oral lichens planus,
thrush,leukoplakia 2/20/08
6/2/08 biopsies "inflammation"
| | | | | Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 598 "Above & Beyond" Member (500+ posts) | | "Above & Beyond" Member (500+ posts)
Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 598 | Actually I had the same thing. Every now and then, even today, I will get a whiff of that same smell, but it goes away.
Jeff
SCC Right BOT Dx 3/28/2007
T2N2a M0G1,Stage IVa
Bilateral Neck Dissection 4/11/2007
39 x IMRT, 8 x Cisplatin Ended 7/11/07
Complete response to treatment so far!!
| | | | | Joined: Nov 2002 Posts: 3,552 Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) | | Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts)
Joined: Nov 2002 Posts: 3,552 | Just to balance things out I don't recall having any unusual smell sensations during Tx other then the general smell of hospital disinfectants. I had pretty radical mouth sores and mucositus as well.
Gary Allsebrook
***********************************
Dx 11/22/02, SCC, 6 x 3 cm Polypoid tumor, rt tonsil, Stage III/IVA, T3N0M0 G1/2
Tx 1/28/03 - 3/19/03, Cisplatin ct x2, IMRT, bilateral, with boost, x35(69.96Gy)
________________________________________________________
"You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes" (James 4:14 NIV)
| | | | | Joined: Feb 2008 Posts: 341 Platinum Member (300+ posts) | | Platinum Member (300+ posts)
Joined: Feb 2008 Posts: 341 | I asked my husband about this and he said he didn't notice a smell during treatment and I have noticed that he is alot more sensitive to smells since he can't taste. He didn't have bad sores - but did have (still has) the mucous.
Michelle, CG to husband (45), DX 2/08 Stage IVa Adenocarcinoma Salivary Gland (T2N2bMO)
Parotidectomy & ND 2/08, Tumor margins not clear, 4 of 30 nodes positve for cancer,
TX IMRT 39x, cisplatin 7x (completed 5/1/08),
PEG (4/22 - 7/9), No port. Currently in remission!
| | | | | Joined: Sep 2006 Posts: 8,311 Senior Patient Advocate Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) | | Senior Patient Advocate Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts)
Joined: Sep 2006 Posts: 8,311 | The burning smell I had only lasted my first rad Tx. After that I couldn't/didn't detect any strange odors.
David
Age 58 at Dx, HPV16+ SCC, Stage IV BOT+2 nodes, non smoker, casual drinker, exercise nut, Cisplatin x 3 & concurrent IMRT x 35,(70 Gy), no surgery, no Peg, Tx at Moffitt over Aug 06. Jun 07, back to riding my bike 100 miles a wk. Now doing 12 Spin classes and 60 outdoor miles per wk. Nov 13 completed Hilly Century ride for Cancer, 104 miles, 1st Place in my age group. Apr 2014 & 15, Spun for 9 straight hrs to raise $$ for YMCA's Livestrong Program. Certified Spin Instructor Jun 2014.
| | | | | Joined: Jun 2007 Posts: 5,260 Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) | | Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts)
Joined: Jun 2007 Posts: 5,260 | I never had the smell during treatment, but now I seem to have a strange odor most of the time. I liked the techs that did my rads and chemo. LOL I would have liked to bring a couple home. Just Kidding David
Since posting this. UPMC, Pittsburgh, Oct 2011 until Jan. I averaged about 2 to 3 surgeries a week there. w Can't have jaw made as bone is deteroriating steaily that is left in jaw. Mersa is to blame. Feeding tube . Had trach for 4mos. Got it out April.
--- Passed away 5/14/14, will be greatly missed by everyone here
| | | | | Joined: Sep 2006 Posts: 8,311 Senior Patient Advocate Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) | | Senior Patient Advocate Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts)
Joined: Sep 2006 Posts: 8,311 | Jim,
Have you had your yearly bath since Tx ended? We may not have to get to scientific to find that smell problem. I also had some attractive babes (no offense ladies) tending to me but I was to busy staying alive to risk another form of death.
David
Age 58 at Dx, HPV16+ SCC, Stage IV BOT+2 nodes, non smoker, casual drinker, exercise nut, Cisplatin x 3 & concurrent IMRT x 35,(70 Gy), no surgery, no Peg, Tx at Moffitt over Aug 06. Jun 07, back to riding my bike 100 miles a wk. Now doing 12 Spin classes and 60 outdoor miles per wk. Nov 13 completed Hilly Century ride for Cancer, 104 miles, 1st Place in my age group. Apr 2014 & 15, Spun for 9 straight hrs to raise $$ for YMCA's Livestrong Program. Certified Spin Instructor Jun 2014.
| | | | | Joined: Jun 2007 Posts: 5,260 Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) | | Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts)
Joined: Jun 2007 Posts: 5,260 | LOL< David, you still have it. The bath day isn't scheduled for 7 more weeks. I'm glad it's cool, there are no flys to attract. LOL
Since posting this. UPMC, Pittsburgh, Oct 2011 until Jan. I averaged about 2 to 3 surgeries a week there. w Can't have jaw made as bone is deteroriating steaily that is left in jaw. Mersa is to blame. Feeding tube . Had trach for 4mos. Got it out April.
--- Passed away 5/14/14, will be greatly missed by everyone here
| | | | | Joined: Jul 2006 Posts: 446 "OCF Canuck" Platinum Member (300+ posts) | | "OCF Canuck" Platinum Member (300+ posts)
Joined: Jul 2006 Posts: 446 | I remember that smell too. I asked about it, and one of my radiotherapy techs said that it wasn't uncommon for people getting radiation on the face ( my therapy mapping included the left nostril) to "smell" an unpleasant burning odor. Whether or not it was a legitimate odor, I don't know...I do know it was there, every time.
Wayne
SCC left mandible TIVN0M0 40% of jaw removed, rebuilt using fibula, titanium and tissue from forearm.June 06. 30 IMRT Aug.-Oct. 06
| | | | | Joined: Feb 2007 Posts: 61 Supporting Member (50+ posts) | | Supporting Member (50+ posts)
Joined: Feb 2007 Posts: 61 | I remember the smell from my first radiation and thinking it was my flesh burning. I can't remember it beyond that. I do know I became VERY sensitive to smell during my treatment period. My husband's deoderant, co-worker's bad breath, and the hospital smell when I first entered the center. For the center, I put peppermint oil on my wrist and inhaled as needed (the hospital smell made me vomit more than once).
SCC, right tonsil, T1N0MO, G3, HPV-33 positive, 7 wks IMRT 2/21/07-4/13/07, 48 year old female when diagnosed, non-smoker, weekend wine drinker, tumor and both tonsils removed. Ethyol for 3 weeks; no peg; only minimal longterm side effects
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