My husband was unable to swallow after rads because his throat was so scarred. He was fed through a tube. His dietitian put him on Nutren 1.5 which has 500 calories in each box. He was on four boxes a day. I put in ice cream and milk with dry skim milk dissolved in it to boost the calories. Eventually when his throat was re-opened through a new procedure, he continued with the Nutren. At that point, I put in manuka honey as well. For breakfast, he would have a couple of poached eggs and a cup of tea. I recorded the calories he was taking in at every meal, so that I could add a bit more calories near the end of the day if he hadn't met the target. If you have a Vitamix and your husband is amenable, you can make him different meals and put them in. The Vitamix does a good job of liquefying everything. Unfortunately, my husband refused to get his food that way. I also made all kinds of thick soups with chicken, cream and veggies. Again, putting them through the Vitamix so that they are really smooth and easy to get down. Do talk to your husband about what kinds of food he would like. It’s very difficult, I know, because not being able to swallow well means he has a disability and it made socializing with friends difficult because so much of that is centered around food. I actually talked to all our friends about changing the focus of our gatherings. They probably thought I was weird but I stood firm on that.

Great news!!! Congrats!! So happy for you!

Be Well

Hi and thanks Dizz_zzey. Yes since I found this forum I have been spending a lot of time here, this is all so new for me and I am finding it comforting to read through some posts, there is so much information and support.

Take care also!

Hello Phoebe, your sister might want to ask her Rad On Dr about “magic mouthwash” it has lidocaine in it to help numb the mouth to help with eating. Some Drs call it Radiomix. It helped me a great deal.

So firstly a huge thank you to everyone who stopped me from jumping in from having some dental work done. I went back to my medical team and asked their advice. They booked an appointment for me with the hospital dentist, and it turned out to be an awful appointment. So bad that I had to complain and ask never to see her again. In the UK your dental appointments are free if you are having dental treatment in hospital and the treatment is related to your condition. I said I would rather pay to see a private dentist, trained in OC before seeing the hospital dentist again.

Anyway, I digress..

My consultant told me not to have my wobbly tooth (bottom front) removed as he'd rather I wait 3 years post radiotherapy before having any healthy teeth removed etc as I had 65grays per fraction. I thought that might be the case and explained that I had mentioned it on here.
I asked if it were OK to have a deep clean done as I have developed gingivitis and periodontitis, so I really want to have everything cleaned to prevent anything worse from happening. They said that's not a problem.

At the dentist, I explained what my consultant had said and will just go for the deep clean.
The dentist explained that whilst I am at a risk of osteonecrosis, my tooth is no longer attached to my jaw, but only help in by my gum and that with the deep cleaning he will be doing, the tooth will fall out and he would much rather take it out now than cause any issue whilst cleaning and the tooth does it's own thing.

He also showed me the x-ray, and yup, my wobbly tooth is not in the same place as the rest of my teeth. I told him to go ahead.

My dentist said that he would also give me antibiotics as a precautionary measure as cleaning can bring up bacteria which he doesn't want to infect the gap left by the tooth.

After I agreed to the removal, he used a pair of pliers to gently pull the tooth, and in less than a couple of seconds it was out. He's then used some stuff to make my bottom teeth stronger and joined together, but still looking like teeth, so that my my teeth won't collapse any further, and I can now bite into my food.

As well as giving me antibiotics, he told me to rinse with fluoride mouthwash once a day, take fluoride toothpaste and rinse my mouth out with salt water. I explained I have a water pic, which he said was perfect for keeping everything clean.

Hello-
My sister just finished final week of radiation for HPV + cancer on her tonsil and a few lymph nodes. Her mouth is burning from things like cool carrot soup, cool asparagus soup and chocolate pudding. Why are these bothering her and what can she do? She had success w tapioca pudding and Soylent...

I did call the triage number and the doctor was contacted. The doctor gave me the all clear to stop. There was no explanation about a schedule or stepping down from the dosage. It was more like take the tylenol every 6 hours, take the Gabapentin every 8 hours and if you have a number between 7-10 for pain then use the oxycodone. I have it written down on a sheet the nurse gave me before I was discharged.
Thanks for your insight. I will have questions for my post op this week.
So many different version of the same situation.
Warm Regards,
Nona Chris

Urgent care visit confirmed 3x3cm lymph node. Ultrasound will give the real answers. Trying really hard to believe that the ENTs I saw earlier in the year were correct about my tongue and that this is unrelated. Paperwork from urgent care says 3x3cm right anterior cervical lymph node not tender movable...really holding on to the fact that it’s movable.