Help needed - Had tongue surgery in February (squamous cell carcinoma, Stage 1), with requisite scar tissue that eventually went away. I"m now three months post radiation, five days in the hospital recently (after having personal pity party because I wasn't healing fast enough) for dehydration and high dose antibiotics for swollen salivary gland which I've had for over two months now with numerous rounds of antibiotics. Now have scar tissue along surgical scar again - could this be from high dose antibiotics? See oncologist tomorrow - just want to know if anyone else has had this problem.

Nancy, Im sorry to hear you are going thru so much!

After rads patients will have some swelling that can take a long time to go down. They will also have a compromised immune system and after rads healing will take much longer. Surgeries will always have some scar tissue left over. I would doubt antibiotics made the scar tissue worse. The swollen gland could be due to any number of factors. Please remember, Im a fellow patient/survivor without a medical background, I cant see your chart or what you are describing.

If you are seeing your doc tomorrow, I suggest making a list of questions to ask. Hopefully you have a good appointment and get some clarity to whats going on. Good luck!!!


PS... Ive sent you a private message (PM) with a link that gives instructions on how to add a signature. This will help us to help answer your questions by knowing your history. Look for a tiny flashing envelope next to the My Stuff tab and click on it. Thank you!!!

Hello Nancy. Hope you had a good consultation with the oncologist. I know what you mean about pity party but heck, it's hard going through tongue cancer and radiation. It's hard to believe how long it takes to heal. Two years after rads I feel pretty normal apart from the damage done by surgery (cut nerve). I also had a swollen parotid gland a little while after treatment. It went down pretty quickly by itself but was a mystery to me.

Yes, it takes a while to heal. I don't know about scars except that I have a lot of them. I think it pays to check with your doctor if you notice any changes that worry you. It's better to over-ask than under-ask.

Best wishes