Treatment for stage IV tonsil cancer consisting of radiation and chemo ended in Feb. 2009. Scans as recently as June 2010 have been clean. In the last week or so have been feeling tenderness in the area of superficial cervical lymph nodes on the same side as my tumor. Have had increased neck stiffness and jaw cramping. I plan to make an appointment with my doctor Monday. Has anyone else had a recurrence within 3-4 months of a clean scan? I do not know if these are normal side effects or signs of a problem.

Peter, I have had clean scans and then a recurrance shortly after. This has happened to others here as well. You are doing the right thing going to get it checked out. There are many after effects that can happen as a result of the radiation treatments. Not all side effects are recurrances, its still better safe than sorry to always investigate changes. Best of luck with this.

Hi Peter,

My partner finished treatment for stage 4 tonisl cancer Nov 2008 and started having the kind of pains you are talking about in I think March this year. If you search for my posts you will probably find more accurate dates and a chronicle of my worries all of which have turned out to be side effects...well that is what we are assuming. There are a few people who have posted here with similar symptoms and I think the jaw cramping - short very sharp pains which can reduce grown men to tears is quite common.

You might like to join the yahoo groups tonsil cancer support group too it it populated with tonsil cancer patients current and past and therefore often the source of more specif info you may be interested in.

Do get your symptoms checked out, but I sincerely doubt they are cause for alarm.
Best
Cath

I havent heard of the other site before. This is the most comprehensive site dedicated to oral cancer patients and their caregivers. Im sure you will get feedback from more members, weekend posts dont always get alot of feedback til Monday.

There are tons of groups out there on the web, aol, yahoo, a couple of list serve places, a couple of non profits run general and specific cancer boards. This is the only one that is monitored for content. While there are some good people, and people that need people on other places, this is the one that the posts have to past muster to ensure no one will be hurt by the advice, and that it is as accurate as the nurses, doctors, and survivors who monitor it can ensure.

I have had neck and jaw cramps and more since my treatment. What you have described sounds normal when compared to my personal passage through it all.

Thanks Christine, Cath and Brian. I am not a worrier, but I feel like I ignored some symptoms the first time around, and I don't believe in making the same mistake twice.
I do remember going to the dentist and complaining of sensitivity in my lower jaw months before I was diagnosed. He found nothing , but I realized later that it was right where some lymph nodes are located. He did not know what to look for, but I understand there is now a swish test that dentists can give.

Peter,

There is no reliable swish test that anyone can give you to help clear up what may be happening. If I were you I would go back to your cancer treating docs asap and have them assess it.

That swish test from Oral/dna Inc. has been highly criticized, and even called just a mechanism for dentists to make money doing. There was an article published in The Journal of Oral Oncology putting it down by Dr. Mark Lingen. The idea has a variety of flaws. A couple of the most glaring are that testing positive for HPV one day does not mean that your immune system will not have it cleared in 30-60 days as happens in most people. It is just a slice of time, and it is the long term persistence of the infection that is dangerous.

A repeat test if you are positive in 6 months (what the company recommends) that is still positive does not mean that it is persisting in you (the thing that makes it dangerous) it could just mean that your system cleared it and you got reinfected. You would have to be completely celibate, do no kissing etc. between tests to be sure that it was accurate and even then, 6 months is still not in the long-term dangerous period limit to be considered something to really worry about. Also the PCR method that they use to test the sample is not the current state of the art testing methodology. There is more, but I personally would not waste my $140.00 on paying for this test.

I had a clean scan in July 09 and in Oct. 09 having surgery for recurrence. I too am having the same things you have mentioned and have been to my Drs numerous times. My most recent scare has been a painful lump on my tongue, opposite of where the original cancer was. My RO today said that he did not see or feel it but went ahead to schedule another PET scan to be on the safe side.