Nelie, welcome to the site. Sorry you had to find us, but we'll try to help as much as possible. Having to deal with two cancers at the same time will be difficult, but you seem to have a very good attitude and that is a very big plus. Attitude will definitely affect the outcome of your treatment. So stay positive.

I had IMRT rad to both sides of my neck as well as to the center, the bed of the ex-tonsils I used to have which is where the primary site was. My dry mouth issues are well taken care of with a bottle of water and some of the folks on this site don't even need that. The effects are different on each of us. You may be one of the lucky ones that have little post rad difficulties with dry mouth. There are many products available to help with it.

As far as singing goes, I can testify to the fact that rad does not help with singing. I couldn't carry a tune with a bucket before rad and nothing got better, I still can't sing, darn.

I had problems before treatment with dental and periodontal issues, two teeth were removed prior to treatment, and am now working on repairing the damage as well as some other things. So far, no issues have come up relating to post treatment problems, but its early and I'll have to see what happens. No matter, the alternative is not good, so dental problems or not, the rad treatment is very important and side effects will just have to be dealt with.

My original site had metastasized to the lymph node on my right side. So I had a tonsilectomy that found the original tumor, 35 rad/3 chemo, and a modified radical right neck dissection. So far, all of the cancer is gone and no recurrance. So hang in there. IMRT, by the way, is much easier on the salivary glands than full field rad. The med team can aim the rad to the right places without bombarding the local area. Good luck and please keep us posted.