My tongue swelled up during my last recurrence, to the point where I could not close my mouth. My docs said it was probably due to my immune system's reaction to the tumor in my tongue. Steroids did help quite a bit, but the relief was only temporary. After I completed the round of steroids the swelling returned and my doctors were hesitant about giving another round of steroids. Fortunately, after I had 1 or 2 chemo treatments and a couple weeks of radiation, the swelling went down substantially and stayed down.
Age 33, NS, HPV- 8/01- At 25, SCC on tongue,3cm lesion remvd. L nk diss clr nodes 10/07- 2cm SCC remvd from L tongue 4/08- SCC on L tonsil,tonslctmy,2 wks later PET showed golf-ball szd tumor in tongue. PEG.IMRT x 35 Cisplatin x 3 ended 7/08. Peg out feb 09 -Clear PET Dec 2010 |