My mother had a Mandibulectomy on March 25,2014 . Four weeks after surgery she started her Radiation Treatments. Her treatments are for six weeks. The first four weeks she gets one treatment a day and the last two weeks she gets two treatment a day six hour apart. She did fine until she started two treatments a day. I had to actually bring her to the ER yesterday due to swelling in her throat. She is suffering with burning in her throat also. She only has three more days(six treatments) to go and now she says she don't think she can take another one. Her neck is really red and burnt looking. Is this normal ? Also has anyone ever had two Radiation treatments a day ? The R.O said two Radiation Treatments a day is equivalent to Chemo.

Yes, what you describe is completely normal. She should be patting on some thick cream to help her skin. Many have used aquaphor. I used prescription beta val. Never put it on prior to going to rads but afterwards pat it gently on and allow it to soak in, repeat a couple times per day.

Please do not let her quit or she faces a high risk of the cancer not being eliminated. I know how bad she feels, I wanted to quit when I was about at her pint too. My son and nurse refused to allow me to even consider that option.

Nutrition and hydration play a huge role in how she feels. Every single day her intake must be at least 2500 calories and 48-64 oz of water. If she is falling short of the fluid intake she can get a prescription to get hydrated in the chemo lab. This will instantly perk her up.

The end and first 2 or 3 weeks after finishing are the hardest of this whole thing. Im sure she feels awful but please help by encouraging her to stay on course.

Best wishes!!!



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Please discuss all of this with her RO. Radiation side effects most often get progressively worse as the Tx nears it's end and can be different for each of us but what you describe affects almost all of us.

That sounds like late course accelerated hyperfractionated IMRT or Concomitant boost accelerated radiation treatment.

Unfortunately it is normal. In addition to Aquaphor the Doctor gave me a prescription for Silvadene (Silver Sulfadiazine) cream. That really made a big difference for me. Helps all burns BTW.


Kevin

Like everything else associated with this cancer's treatment, we all can react differently so we will give you what worked for us but that may not be enough (or an over kill) if your reaction is worse than ours.

HI there... what she has going on is normal. I've had two treatments in one day - twice. It just makes the symptoms worse. Push her to finish the last few. It's doable. I only had two double cookings but I was doing okay before that so it didn't really make things any different for me. Hugs. Tell her she's almost there...

Thank you all for the help. My mom took her last treatment on Wednesday 6-4-14 . Thank goodness she's through it. She is in a lot of pain but I read all of your responses to her and it was very helpful. She is eating crushed ice it seems to help a lot. Hopefully as the days go by she will feel better.

Again thank you for the advice its been very helpful. I'll be back soon .

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Most of us suffer the most the 2 to 3 weeks POST RADIATION so do not get discouraged if she does not start to improve until then.