My husband is 7 weeks post TX this Tuesday had ct scan on 8/12 everything came back grossly clear that's the defining words on the ct scan RO. Was very impressed his words we're I'm very pleased as he showed us the before and after treatment scan!! He said the tumor had responded well to treatment and the ct result also said no possible recurrence of tumor !! That was wonderful news to hear we have been trough so much with traveling seven weeks to rads and the one and half dose of chemo/ we thanked god the first one our faith has helped us so much going trough this horrible experience that I pray no one ever goes trough although their have been some strong people went trough this.my husband has been having trouble from ear pain in the left ear tumor was on the right however he had one small node on the left where rads we're also given I'm not sure if this has anything to do with the pain ..

We told the ENT and he seem to brush it off he's a very cocky dr with terrible manners and isn't very good at given answers he had a lady come in to set up for a swallowing test in a few weeks she ask had my husband been chocking when drinking water or formula we told her no ! She said he could be having silent aspiration I said I've never heard of such .. I ask the RO and nurses they had not heard of it they said you would show signs if aspirating such as choking

She went on to say during the test my husband would be swallowing things such as crackers I told her he had an ulcer back their and was still a little raw she went on to tell how long she had been doing the test and it was protocall I was very disappointed with her attitude and the ENT I've always felt uncomfortable going into that office the other places we visited along the treatment journey we're very nice and very informative with information .. I looked up the comments from him and his staff from others who have seen him trough treatment! Looked like they we're all bad comments with his attitude so it felt good not to be the only one hoping we don't have to see him much more!!

My husband is doing better he can drink formula and eat small things small amount his want for food hasn't returned yet we tried the buffet as someone mentioned and he ate small bites of several items witch was great I haven't seen him eat In so long we're taking one day at a time!!

Mucus is getting better slowly but much better !!

I'm glad things are improving for Larry. That must be a huge relief for you, too!

If you ever find an RO with a bubbly personality, let me know. Between them and neurologists, there's not a lot of touchy-feely going on, in my world at least. I prefer the smartest available because the things they do and know keep me alive.

I've also found a good SLP understands swallow even better than most ENT's and nurse. That's all they do. I also had silent aspiration and even now, saliva and mucus runs unabated into my lungs. I don't choke at all as it happened over time and the body adjusts. I hack up food particles for hours after meals and have had pneumonia off and on for a couple of years.

If you challenge the knowledge of one provider to another, you may not get the care that is needed. Trust they know what they are doing. If you can't trust them, you have the wrong doctors and nurses.

Best wishes for continued good news and healing for Larry.

You made me smile Ed. You must have met our RO. Almost autistic like in his relations with patients. But yes, we were there for his radiation skills and expertise. Definitely not his personality .

The RO that replaced mine is awesome. He is so intent on making sure no one he treats ends up like me. It's really cool the things he tells me about. The first was always making a new mask but especially with significant weight loss and second was removing some of the plastic on the neck to avoid burning.

I was never especially religious but I am a former soldier. I remember a line in MASH that rang true over the years. "There's no aetheists in foxholes!" And thats very true at times like this. Coming to terms with mortality and all that changes your outlook on lots of things.

As Uptown says its better to have the the smart RO you can trust for the touchy feely clueless one. I'll also take the big old nurse over the young blonde with the big boobs, because the big old nurse can get a canula in first go!

Glad to hear the good news about Larry, it takes such a load off doesn't it. Its all up from here, just remind him to be patient because it does take a long while to recover.

Great news and progress. Takes time but his recovery will progress nicely.

My RO was communicative - he just oozed how smart he was. LOL. Fine with me since was the smartest cat in the house. We discussed mapping and ensuring rads blasted the cancer and not much else. Today, zero side effects so he and the dosimetrist did their jobs. Only thing noticeable is a slight ridge/bulge of unavoidable scarring of the blasted lymph nodes.

He would not give me any pain meds either. I just loved when another RO did the weekly checkin as that is when I loaded up; great fellow with the big fat script pad! lol

Going trough something like this makes one very very sensitive including the care taker I don't think we was looking or expecting buttons or chocolate cookies we was looking for comfort we drove so far from
Our home for 7weeks I watched a big strong man go trough something I wish I. No one .. He became so different with weight loss he stoped talking he stoped working in his garage he stoped doing so much more just all the things he lived to do each day
This came on us so suddenly after his mom passed a year before we was still dealing with that my husband was so close to his mom ..
We just thought a person we had put out trust in would be more confined in us and out fillings would have been more compassion about the situation but it made me fill not alone after reading some replys on the ENT web page.. Seems as if he had been a total a$$ to more people than just us .. We didn't see the ENT very much and I was glad my husbands care. Came from our Radition oncologist the staff we're all caring and really answered out questions they was their when we needed them and for that I'm great full !!
On a better note: my husband is doing great he's starting to eat slowly he's more active even tho the mucus is still their it's not as bad getting better we can try to breath again and focus on getting him stronger everyday his food in take being 8weeks tomorrow isn't as good as I expected but he's getting their he drank a 7up yesterday and that made me happy!! The small things in like seem to matter most in this OC situation .. I'm so thankful for the encouragement I recived from Christina , David , and so many more on here and the information Christina give on the calorie intake cause we would have not known no one elese at the hospital where my husband took treatments never told us a lot of great info we got from this site and again I'm thankful !! So we continue to push on..

That's the good thing Don our RO was the best at keeping the anti nausa meds and pain meds and he did seem like the smart cat the whole way lol

Hi Larry and caring wife,
I started my chemo and radiation one year ago today. Stage 4 HPV positive tonsil cancer. I changed ENT doctors before consulting with a radiologist. My first one didn't like to answer questions.
I went to a NCI(National Cancer Institute) doctor since my supplemental insurance would pay for the consult. Glad I did.

Since I was self pay until 2014, the doctor said we could wait on the Pet scan and CT scan (both with contrast) until 3 months after the end of treatment. I still had laryngoscopies until the scans. Doctor said a later scan would also reduce the chance of a false positive due to a bit more healing of the effected tissues.
There will still be some hard times ahead. Floods of mucus, thrush, pain, lymphedema, dry throat, loss of taste or worse - odd tastes. I also suffer from allergies on top of everything else. Here are some suggestions:
Sleep with your head and upper body slightly elevated and use a humidifier. Also, drink plenty of water -lots of water. For me, Fuji water had the least offensive taste and smell; but, this may have been due to my burnt nasal passages.
Nasal rinses may help. For me the rinse would make me gag especially in the first couple of months after treatment.
Keep your mouth clean. Salt and baking powder rinses. Floss and brush with a mild toothpaste like Biotene for dry mouth.
Just today I had some lymphedema in my right jaw and neck, probably since the allergens are a bit high right now. I just massage the area to reduce the swelling. There are other remedies like a stretchy wrap if the skin is not still sore.
The pain was mostly bad when trying to swallow food. I needed to take a pain pill for the first few weeks after treatment. I would take the pill 1 hour before eating since the pain relief only lasted a couple of hours.
I would have to drink lots of water in order to be able to swallow. Food would get stuck in my throat, don't panic and inhale, just drink some more water. Don't eat to late in the day or you will be up every couple of hours at night to pee.
Do some mouth exercises, open your mouth wide and move your tongue around.
I drank lots of whole milk shakes flavored with chocolate and supplemented with whey protein and a bit of dextrose. Protein and calories are needed for a healing body.
I still get laryngoscopy examinations.
I am still seeing improvement in my salivary function and ability to taste even though it is in very small steps.
Hang in there Larry.

I think you might want to switch the baking powder with baking soda...unless you are making biscuits from scratch. Just a suggestion.