I finished off my 4th of the last 8 BOOST treatments today and WOW you can def tell they "kicked it up a notch"! I never even used to really feel the radiation after treatment, by the end of that evening I would feel a little tingle on my tongue but that was about it. Now...lol, I feel like there is a hot piece of charcoal sitting on my tongue...actually its probably more like napalm since its so damn sticky and wont come off....lol! I can say what a difference a couple weeks make. My neck is really dark red and starting to blister and the mucuous is so thick that it is flat out gagging me at night that I am up about every 45 mins "hocking" it into a big cup that sits on my nightstand. I was always under the impression if your mucuous was greenish/yellow that meant infection. I understand my entire throat and tongue is one gigantic sore but was everyone else that color as well. I found that if I spit it out throughout the entire night that when I wake up in the moringing I am no longer nausious which is HUGE for me! Once again my RO saw me today and asked if I wanted to take the rest of the week off...."why is he pressuring me to take time off??? I asked him do you think I really need to take it off? He said no I just want you to be comfortable...lol yea like 4 days off is going to do that, all that is going to do is prolong this! I just want it to be over and done with!
I asked this question before and nobody responded. Did anybody during treatment have any nodes swell up on the opposite side of treatment or on the side of treatment right by your corrated? I have had this small lump there now for 2-3 weeks that everyone seems to think its nothing but it has me non-stop thinking that I am going back under the knife as soon as I am done with this treatment and back in radiation doing the right side! It is def smaller than what was on my right side and that was only 1.7cm and was not there at the beginning of treatment. All 3 of my docs including my ENT said it would make no sense what so ever for it to cross over to the right side especially during treatment. Just want to see if anyone else developed any small lumps as well. So I guess I am on the home stretch...weighed in today at 187 so I have lost 13 lbs since treatment started and for the past week it has been a PROJECT to suck down 4 of those CIB VHC's a day! I am still glad I elected not to go with the PEG but I will tell you it sure would make eating and staying hydrated a hell of a lot easier! I was about 2 hours away from heading to the hospital until I forced myself to drink and eat, hurt so bad my eyes were watering and my nose was running! Ok will keep you all updated as I continue! Thanks for listening!

GO EAGLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As far as the opposite side nodes flaring up, the cancer can't "cross over" as they are not connected. Perhaps the only way cancer could appear there now would be that it was undetected there at the start and it would have had to come from some Primary site that drained to that side. Could be infection. How is your WBC ? Are they tender? May also explain the greenish color of your mucus?

Perhaps on another topic, my mucus was pretty much white as I remember it and I carried a small Styrofoam cup with me everywhere and would even put it in my pocket when I didn't want people to see it. UCK I also kept one by my bed and I would wake up gagging as well. It gets so bad for some that they had to rent a suction machine to suck it out. Totally disgusting phase of this Tx.

Where are the Eagle going anywhere?

Going to the superbowl of course! They havent tested me at all since treatment started for anything to be honest! Yea its a little tender to touch. Well I had 2 CT scans with and without and a PET scan right before treatment and nothing showed. He also scans me every week before treatment to make sure everything looks good and nothing shows up so I guess that is a good thing. Yea I carry around a little travel size mouthwash container and spit in that...not quite as disgusting as a plastic cup...lol

I'm sure they are taking blood from you on a regular basis? Right? Then find out what your WBC looked like last time and see when your next blooding is due. I don't think the color of your split is normal if it's green and the nodal infection would fit your other symptoms. Dr Dave here!!

Hi Jim

Robs handkercchiefs that i had to boil every day were always thick dark green.I used to think it was caused by the dead tissue in his mouth sloughing off and mixing with the mucous which was thick and stringy.Rob had a secondary tumour in his parotid gland on the opposite side to his tongue primary and this was a cause of much discussion with his team as it is not a usual way for the disease to spread but somehow it did.At this point i would try not to worry too much as so many things are going on during this intense frying stage.Hang on in there its nearly over and your weight is very impressive.

love lz

Actually Dave they havent checked my blood 1 time since treatment. I see the RO on monday I will ask him what the deal is. But I did speak to him yesterday and he said that it is totally normal for the thick mucous that I hack up deep from my chest to be a yellowish green color and very thick, that is what he says is making me nausious. I guess since I am not doing chemo that is why they are not checking my blood??? Weekend off then 2 more! I am soooo ready for this to be over with! Then move on to whatever that lump is on the right side.....

I didn't have chemo and my blood was checked weekly including the TSH for thyroid. I also lost very little weight and had no peg. I find it odd they are not doing at least WBC. I'd ask for TSH levels while you are at it. Did they take your TSH BEFORE you started treatment?

Take care,
Eileen

I did a ton of bloodwork prior to starting treatment as well as scans but have no idea what any of the stats were. I will ask monday why my blood hasnt been checked out at all. Not even mentioned. Thats kind of irritating me! Even though I hate giving blood.

My blood was checked every week during Tx especially because of my chemo and I don't ever recall my thick mucus ever being GREEN or yellowish green. They even continued to check my blood at every post Tx appt during my first year.

My husband's mucous was definitely never greenish and because he had a suction pump that I cleaned many times, I saw plenty of it. He had weekly bloodwork but maybe because you're not having chemo that's different?

I had blood work done every Thursday.