Week 8 post-tx and a few of the 'side affects' from the treatment have started to appear.
Jen has a little 'lump' that has appeared on her chin which is on the opposite side to where the cancer was. It doesn't seem like much but as with most on here - your mind plays tricks with you and tends to wander off by its own sometimes which doesn't help.
Hair loss in the back of the neck area continues on despite being 8 weeks out from treatment, and considering she was administered carboplatin - it is a bit baffling as to why this continues to happen.
Sore neck & shoulders are also an issue and I don't think it is helped by the fact that she has to take care of a 10kg baby during the day and has to pick him up and put him down all day long!
On a more positive note, she definitely has a lot more energy and it was encouraging to hear from her that she felt 'hungry' for the first time after treatment despite taste levels remaining at 15-20%. Also, her tongue movement with her new flap has improved so much which as a result means she is able to speak and eat a whole lot better now - I would say almost at 90% levels pre-tx.
Follow-up bookings at the hospital were also made for the end of the month with the dental oncologist, speech therapist & dietician for this month along with our ENT doctor which hopefully gives us a chance to go through a few of the post-tx symptoms outlined above, but I would love to know if anyone else has had similar issues and it would be great!
Thank you all as always and God bless.
Jen, Jay & Hunter.
6/8/12: Wife 33y/o with no risk dx with Stage IVa SCC L of Tongue(T4aN2bM0) 3/9/12: Induced birth @ 36 weeks - Baby Hunter! 11/9/12: OP - 3/4 Partial Gloss, Radical ND & Tongue Rec. 24/10/12: 33xRad + 7xChemo 7/12/12: Tx complete 21/3/13 & 21/6/13: NED 24/7/13: SCC in Lungs - OP: Lobectomy (VATS) 29/1/14 passed away