Hi everyone,

My wife had a partial glossectomy 7 weeks ago, losing more than half her tongue. The donor site to replace the removed portion came from her forearm. She had her first radiation treatment 4 days ago. We noticed substantial swelling and lighter shading of only the "new" portion the following morning. The swelling has subsided somewhat with meds from our ENT, but be are concerned with proceeding with the radiation.
Can anyone provide an opinion on how we might proceed? Could the swelling subside or increase if we continue radiation? Any response would be appreciated.

Welcome to OCF! Im sorry your wife is going thru oral cancer and its brutal treatments. But luckily you have found this forum to help you with info and support.

Im glad to hear the doctor has been made aware of the change in your wifes tongue. Thats always the best thing is to be vigilant and notify the doc of any changes. Im sorry but I do not know if continuing treatments will cause more swelling. Radiation treatments are not easy, especially for oral cancer patients. They get progressively harder as they go on and the patient gets more fatigued. But, radiation many times is a necessary part of treatment to ensure the cancer is completely killed. Even a surgery with clean margins there still could be one microscopic cell too small to be detected that is still there. I would say to continue with the treatments and keep up the good work with watching closely for changes so the doctor can be notified.

Best wishes!!!

Thanks for your reply, Christine. Our ENT prescribed liquid prednisolone, which has helped to somewhat reduce the tongue swelling. We continued radiation yesterday, and the swelling has not increased; however, we noticed redness and some white patches on the tongue and palate. Our radiation and chemo oncologists feel this is thrush, caused by our first chemo treatment with cisplatin 5 days ago. My wife is was prescribed clotrimazole lozenges, which have reduced the patches in her mouth.

Thrush may come back from time to time during treatment as the patient's resistance is low. Just keep using the rinses/lozenge that your doctor has prescribed when it comes back.

HI there... how long ago was her surgery and did she have a neck dissection as well? Surgery messes with nerves, and lymph systems and blood flow, and to be honest my tongue was okay after my surgery but yes radiation does mess with the healing and such, but it is imperative that she have it so - do not stop.

Unless she has an infection, this is fairly normal. I had a football tongue for a while. It is worse if you've had a neck dissection, as the pathways for the lymph fluid have been destroyed, and new ones take some time to rebuilt (often with the help of lymphatic massage). I am almost 2 years out from the end of treatment and my neck sometimes swells as does my cheek and tongue though this is next frequent now. A little massage gets things moving. I wouldn't worry about the massage now, just know that it's relatively normal. Just make sure your doctor is aware of the issue there is nothing else causing it.

best of luck

Thanks for your helpful response, Cheryl. My wife's surgery was on 2/5, stage 4, including a neck dissection, removing 35 lymph nodes, 6 cancerous. She has some swelling in her neck, which was expected. We started radiation on 3/20, chemo on 3/21. As of today, she is stable and proceeding with Mon-Fri radiations and weekly chemo for another 5 1/2 weeks. Our second chemo session with cisplatin is tomorrow, followed by a hearing test the next day. We have learned much on this forum from generous posters like you, which helps us understand and manage the side effects of this disease. Thanks again.

Hello everyone,
My wife was switched from cisplatin to carboplatin after 3 treatments, as her tinnitis worsened, moving from medium to a higher pitch, and from the background to the foreground. The new treatment is much shorter, only about 30 minutes instead of 2 hours.
She has problems with coughing and keeping most everything down, except for fat-free milk. Does anyone know why that might be?
Our doctors think it might be from the radiation/chemo; I suspect it could also be a virus she might have picked up during the holiday season. Any suggestions?

Hi Edwo, Welcome here, and my condolences to your wife, along with my best wishes for a complete victory over her Cancer.

The nausea is likely the result of the chemo, all platinum based agents (both cisplatin and carboplatin are platinum based agents, with cisplatin being generally "stronger," or having more severe side-effects), but I don't know about the coughing.

My experience is that the -platins also cause hiccups. Minor PITA by itself, but when you have all the other stuff going on that Cancer treatments entail, it could be causing the coughing also.

Or, as say, it could be a bug.

It could also be a histamine reaction to environmental conditions, like (especially) Oak pollen or other pollen. 'Tis the season, you know.

Best wishes!

Bart