For those who have not received radiation treatment, please take heed. Radiation can destroy saliva production by hitting the parotid and salivary glands.

Fortunately, I got educated early enough to learn this so I was extra diligent reviewing and discussing the planned mapping of my radiation treatment.

They clearly understood I was very keen on them thinking extra hard to ensure the damage to other organs was minimized while not degrading the efficacy of the treatment.

Luck or not, being about 20 months post, I have 100% saliva production, never any dry mouth, and the side effects I experience seem obviously due to the radiation directly where the active cancer was found.

The neck muscles right on the nymph node track tighten up and the area at the back of my chin is basically where the BOT cancer was and that area will spasm if I do a big yawn. kind of funny I train myself to yawn differently to trigger the spasm.

So was it pure luck my parotids got minimal direct or scatter, I don't know. I am planning a followup with the RO, maybe I can get a dosimetrist too to review my plan and compare against my current state. The primary reason for the visit would be to discuss long term side effects such as ORN and other dental related issues.