Eileen, glad to hear your husband is getting seen today by a medical professional! It’s probably nothing serious but you just never know so it’s always best to err on your be side of caution and get checked out.

Since your husband finished chemo/rads last August he’s still actively recovering and has at least another year and half to go until he will hit his final post cancer capabilities. ArounAugust of 2021 he will probably notice a few remaining mild issues sevthat have not gone back to how they were in his pre-cancer life. This is 100% normal. It’s actually pretty rare for OC patients/survivors to return exactly to their former selves. A complete recovery takes 2 full years. Most will have a few setbacks during their recovery phase.

Your husband currently could be due to a minor setback on his road to recovery. It could be nothing serious but because of its location we all always fast forward to the worst case scenario. That’s also very common! After what we have all been thru surgeries, chemo, rads we all have no desire to go thru anything else so we all fear recurrences. For me, I was soooo freaked out by every lump/bump I avoided reading any post that had anything to do with recurrences. Of course that’s just silly but it’s a huge fear for almost every one of us.

Hopefully he just has the beginning of a cold or something minor which is causing a little swelling which you both are noticing. Most post rads minor issues now take a longer to heal when that area has been radiated. Even the surrounding mouth/throat tissue has picked up scatter rads affecting their ability to heal as well. If no improvement within 2 weeks or so another recheck should be done. Please let us know how your husband makes out at his appointment. Don’t e surprised if doing a biopsy gets mentioned. It’s all part of being on top of everything to ensure your husband is ok. I’ve had at least 15
biopsies over the past 12+ years with most being negative due to my doctors being so cautious.

Best wishes with everything!!!


Christine
SCC 6/15/07 L chk & by L molar both Stag I, age44
2x cispltn-35 IMRT end 9/27/07
-65 lbs in 2 mo, no caregvr
Clear PET 1/08
4/4/08 recur L chk Stag I
surg 4/16/08 clr marg
215 HBO dives
3/09 teeth out, trismus
7/2/09 recur, Stg IV
8/24/09 trach, ND, mandiblctmy
3wks medicly inducd coma
2 mo xtended hospital stay, ICU & burn unit
PICC line IV antibx 8 mo
10/4/10, 2/14/11 reconst surg
OC 3x in 3 years
very happy to be alive smile