I always come here first when I have a question and you always have the answer. My husband had his modified, radical neck surgery one month ago. Now he has noticed some swelling in his chin area. I am thinking Lymph fluid leaking and building up. Dose this sound possible, any one else have this happen? He will ofcourse, call his MD but in the meantime, I am making my own diagnosis. Any thoughts apprecialted. LM

LM,

Nothing technical here - I'm not qualified for that. But after my disection they told me the swelling was indeed fluid that had nowhere else to go. They never said anything about massage for my neck, but when I went to the therapist for trismus, she worked on my neck and it helped quite a bit.

Take care,
Dinah

Dinah:
How did you found ot you had trismus? Also that swelling under the chin does it ever go away? I've been reading about trismus, and I asked my surgeon about the possibility of getting Physical Therapy. He said is not necessary that with time it will get better and the chin will also get better with time. I had a modified radical neck dissection a month ago. I can hardly open my mouth,the most I cann do with a big effort is insert 2 fingers into my mouth,the articles I've been reading say 3 is normal. Olease let me know whatever info you have.

Thanks.

Hi Elem510:

It is very common to have swelling in dependent areas after a neck dissection. In fact, it is common to instruct clients that this may occur during the immediate post-op phase and last for a variable amount of time depending on the person. My partner, Dave, had his radical neck dissection on almsot 2 months ago. He was very fortunate that his swelling resolved within a few weeks.

There are some neck exercises that can help as well as receiving therapeutic massage from a health care professional who also is licensed to perform massage therapy.

We also asked if being without lymph nodes can inhibit fighting off respiratory infection in the future and were told it can slightly but the nodes on the other side (if you still have them) compensate.

Nice to talk with you,

Kim

Speaking of chest colds without lymph nodes, I don`t have any left in my neck, and had no respiratory infections.............and I even still have my chest!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Packer

This is most likely accumulated fluids, and as time goes by the body will find new ways to eliminate them from these areas since the normal pathways have been destroyed by the surgery. Massage does help slightly. Note that the lymph system doesn't do much when it comes to fighting off infections; it is not directly part of our immune system. It primarily serves the purpose of draining and providing a pathway for the debris of the immune response to exit the area and the body. Please read the section on trismus in the main site body...use the search function or start in he dental complications section. There are devices from Therabite that will help you to stretch and gradually widen the opening of your mouth. Since it is all there, I won

Thanks to all who replied to my question. I am always sure to get the answers here. My husband also knows that when he has questions or doubts that I will come here for reassurance. Thanks again and best wishes to everyone who travels this path. LM

Cancer4,

Yes, the swelling does go down. It's been a year now, and the best thing happened the other day. The nurse practitioner that sees and monitors me weekly was feeling my neck and lymph nodes (this was like the second visit to her) She was concerned because I flinched when she touched behind my ear, then she looked and said "I didn't notice that before!!!" She could have given me a hundred dollars and I'm not sure she would have done more for my ego. She didn't notice the scar that I think is the first thing everyone sees.
Yeah!!!
Brian has a good section on trismus, you need not to let it go. It won't resolve on it's own. If you go the physical therapist route phone around for one that is used to dealing with TMJ, I got lucky and found the only one in town that knew what to do with a jaw.

Take care,
Dinah

Hi,

Like everyone has said, most likely the swelling is normal and will go away eventually. However, in my daughter's case, it was an infection. 2 months after her modified radical neck dissection and 3 days into her radiation treatments, she noticed a lumpy swelling under her chin, on either side of her nicely healed incision. It was Friday and we figured we'd mention it Monday morning to the Dr.

Sunday night, it started to ooze pus (sorry, I know it is gross). All-in-all, more than a tablespoon of pus came out. Some was tinged with blood. And it left an open hole in the incision. Evidently, she had an infection brewing and the RAD must have accelerated it. The docs aren't sure what happened, but they surmise that a small amount of saliva must have leaked from the bottom of her mouth into the neck cavity before the incision on the bottom of her mouth had healed. She is being treated with antibiotics, but she had to postpone RAD and will most likely have to start all over.

As to the trismus issue, she got a Therabite appliance and IT DOES WORK! Fortunately her insurance covered it - most don't and it costs $375. And she doesn't even do it as often as recommended. She can tell, though, if she skips a couple days. Her mouth tightens up again, but a few days of using it gets it loosened up. Supposedly, they only charge drs. $275, so I would suggest asking your dr to order it.

Rosemary

Call your doctor!! My husbands chin swelling was a return of the cancer