Hello everybody,

My father is experiencing difficulty in breathing due to bronchospasm strider. This is a condition where the wind pipe is contracted due to sticky mucus.

Doctor says that "Hardly any conical Trachea in this clinical situation the tracheotomy is with high incident of complications- one may not be successful in identifying trachea under local anesthesia. It is better to manage by other medical means. Even after successful trachea, the stoma may get involved very soon."

We are trying some antibodies due to which my father is doing fine for 3-4 days but again the problem is back...

This breathing difficulty is worse in night...

Kindly help us with your experiences... any suggestions/ recommendations would be highly appreciated..

Thanks a bunch..

Krishna

Krishna
I'm really sorry to hear your Dad is having such a rough time.
Following surgery I had a trach for 10 days, and even though I wasn't suffering from any really bad mucous issues at that time, I clearly remember how often, and unpleasant the cleaning of the trach site was.

I can only imagine what it woul be like with sticky mucous complicating the whole thing. I can understand what the Doctors are saying about complicating factors with a trach and the stoma. Again, I am sure that they know best, and if they're saying medication is preferred, I would stay with that plan. Keep being your Dad's advocate for action...it's incredibly important to him
Wayne

Hello People,

My Father had a PET scan done yesterday... The report says that all parts of body are clear except his tongue ( 2/3 of his tongue is effected). As I mentioned above, the biggest problem he is facing is breathing difficulty and swelling on his face (staring from neck upto below the eye).

Researching this website, the came across term "lymphedema" for swelling and massage by a physical therapist is suggested by people. I have a few questions...kindly devote 5 min. of yours to answer.. your responses will help my father a lot.

1) PET scan says neck region clear but any idea why does my father still has a rock-hard neck? His neck muscles are very tight and cant move his neck..

2)Extreme swelling in the face repeatedly - Is this an indication or symptom of possible metastasis beyond neck region...If yes, how do we know abt it? someone in forum had talked abt MRI of spine, skull?

3)can anybody please throw them light on how is the massage given? ( we dont have very good facility in India for physical therapist)

Thanks a bunch in advance... Merry Christmas to everyone...

Krishna

Krishna,

What type of surgery did he have. My ENT who wanted to do a ND (which I ended up NOT having done) told me that the ND would leave my neck hard, as he knocked his nuckles on his desk to demonstrate.

Hope this little bit helps.

I had a left neck dissection with 56 nodes removed. It leaves the tissue more rigid because you have effectively removed the drainage system from the area.
That is referred to as lymphedema. Various massage techniques can assist in reducing it, but it will never go away completely. activity, fatigue, etc. all make mine swell a little more than normal. It was also a lot more pronounced when I was still lying in bed a lot.

That said, I have the comfort of knowing that all nodes were microscopically examined and found cancer free, which is important to my state of mind

If memory serves, your Dad had radiation too, didn't he? That will also cause rigidity in the muscles. The radiation does effectively "cook" the tissue, making it more like a grilled steak and rigid to the touch.

The massage that I've had done on my face and neck for lymphedema is pleasant enough, but really hasn't changed anything. What the therapist tries to do is to massage the area starting high on my face and always working down, to force the accumulated fluid lower into the upper chest where the lymph nodes are still present to drain it away.

Some people have had really good luck with it, some not. I know that it is specialized training for the therapist, and not that many are qualified to do it
Best,
Wayne

Hi Wayne,

Lymphnodes were removed back in feb 06 when surgery was done on first diagnosis.. That time we did not see any swelling... Swelling on face started after recurrence (in october06) and radiation treatments...

Thx

Krishna

That's what I thought. I'd bet the combination of lymph nodes being removed and the radiation treatments have combined to cause much of the problem.

I haven't found anything so far that really makes a difference. The massage helps, but doesn't eliminate the problem. I have been offered a variety of steriods, etc. that may help as well, but I just don't want more medications.

I really hope the Doctors can come up with a solution for your Dad. He's had a really rough time with all of this.
Wayne