Hello Every one.
It has been 18 days that my husband is Cancer free as per doctors. They removed his lymph nodes. Now his face swells up after waking up. He is complaining of food going into windpipe. I am scared about it. Not everyday he feels that way but today he felt more than other times. He is trying not to use G tube so he is eating from mouth small bites.
Is this normal to feel like that? please advice. It has been over 5 months after chemo and radiation how long does it take for a person to be like before.
Please help?? thanks

Dysphagia is described in the main section of the web site. This is a swallowing issue that is caused by the radiation treatments when the nerves that control the swallowing function are damaged by getting rads. Some people like me have a mild version of it and it is only liquids that I have to be careful of as some of them always end up in my lungs. ( A barium swallow test should be done on him to determine where he is in all this). As he gets further out from treatments, this will either begin to improve or go the other way and get worse. Everyone is slightly different so there is no knowing for sure. He shouldn't try to overdo it right at the beginning, thinking that now out of treatment things are going to immediately go back to normal. Learning to swallow again will take time, and what was an unconscious reflex maneuver before, is no longer.

As to the swelling in his neck, that is normal especially after laying down for a long period. The body is still producing lots of lymph fluid, but now with the nodes gone, it has nowhere to go. I found that gentle massage everyday, from my head towards my chest, in the first two months after the ND helped quite a bit. Eventually, new lymph drainage passageways will be developed and this will stop. But it can take many months.

Roma,
I can speak only to the difficulty swallowing - your husband should be assessed by a speech pathologist and then likely have a Modified Barium Swallow Study (MBSS) to confirm whether or not there is something going into his windpipe when he eats/drinks and to clearly see how the muscles of the swallow are moving. Sounds like treatment for swallowing would really help him safely regain swallow function.
Take care!

Thank you Brian and Jennifer. I will call the doctor to make appointment for Barium Test.Will try to use the massage technique. But why does it pain on the swelling area. He has pain on the side jaw not on neck or mouth.

Thanks for your replies.