My mother completed her RADs in the first week of June. Recently she has been in so much pain. A scan was done last week and the Oncologist didn't want to discuss it yet because it showed not clear . He thinks because of the type of surgery she had it could be a false positive. Now a MRI is being done this coming Wednesday to get a better picture of whats going on. Her pain is in all the same spots. Her ear ,tongue ,and rear jaw bone that was left in after surgery. My question is Could the cancer be relapsing so soon. Its only been 3 months . Also her neck is so swollen in the morning . The Oncologist said it is from the lymp node removal . About how long until this swellen clears up

Unfortunately, cancer can recurr at anytime, although not common in several weeks, or can be reminiscent, but the symptoms may just as well be treatment related, and as the doctor said, the morning swelling can be from the lymph fluid pooling. I sleep on an incline, which I find helpful. I'm almost 4 years out from radiation, 3 years from my first neck dissection, and still have swelling, more so on the most radiated right side, and under chin. Everyone is different, had different Tx, and it's not easily understood why some have lympdemia while others don't, but it's not uncommon. Some do PT, have manual lymphatic drainage massage, which may help prevent fibrosis, but check with your doctors first. I had so many recurrences I wasn't letting anyone play around with my neck, except my ENT.

Good luck with the MRI. The majority of post treatment scans at three months are clear of cancer.

Hi, agree with Paul. At three months after radiation it is very rare for recurrence to be occurring in the same spot. Sounds a lot like side effects and I bet the MRI will show this is all scarred or swollen tissue. Hang in there.

my husband's cancer came back 4 months after a mandibulectomy but not in the exact same spot...Hoping for the best for you Mom.

3 months post rads is a worrying time. You don't have the clear results from the PET, you are still suffering the same sore throat you had before treatment, it doesn't feel like anything has changed. With the surgery on the lymph nodes the repair process is even slower. But all that is completely normal and the phase does pass. A false positive on the first PET is not uncommon with all the inflammation going on.

Recovery is not linear, and there are setbacks along the way. New pain like any change in symptoms should be reported to and managed by the doctors, but don't be surprised or unduly worried when there are bumps in the road.