Hi, I've posted a few times, I'm a 44 year old female non-tobacco user. I had a small SCC tumor in the left side of my tongue. I had it surgically removed, but it was deeper than they thought, so I underwent neck dissection and a second partial glossectomy because a second look at the pathology on the first surgery showed that some cancerous cells were likely left behind. Then, due to the pathology on the second removal which looked like they got it all, but the size was borderline and it was growing perineural, so they wanted me to do radiation as well. So here I am, 13 radiation treatments down out of 30, so 27 to go. Tuesday is the halfway mark, not that I'm counting 😉.

So far: (or skip to the bottom for question)
#7: No radiation side effects until #7 when I started getting a salty taste in my mouth and the tip of my tongue was getting a little sensitive.
#8: Salty taste worse, sensitivity about the same.
Off day : Salty taste nauseating, sensitivity making eating a little harder (avoiding harder foods like crusty bread, granola, etc)
#Off day: no change
#9: eating is very hard, everything feels like broken glass in my mouth, salty taste still strong, brushing my teeth is now limited due to pain from the brush and toothpaste burns my mouth
#10: had 1 small slice of soft bready pizza, very painful to eat, unable to eat more, had soup instead. Sense of taste is definitely diminishing.
#11: got macaroni salad down avoiding the red onion because it burns! Started saltwater/baking soda rinse per doctor instructions and got a softer toothbrush and kids toothpaste which makes brushing less painful. Bought Cloraseptic spray to numb my mouth due to constant burning.
#12: came down with thrush on the tip of my tongue, doctor prescribed dexamethasone rinse and Fluconazole tablets
#13: less burning sensation and white plaque improved since yesterday, almost gone by the end of the day, but still hard to eat, salty taste might be slightly improved, but sense of taste is almost gone. I can sort of taste the first couple mouthfuls, then nothing. Ate 1 cup of macaroni and cheese, it was a fight to get it down. Using Cloraseptic spray before each meal to help with pain from eating. Between meals almost no pain, but energy is starting to go down.


Tips/Advice?
#Off day (today) starting to wonder how I'm going to get my calories and protein in from here on out. It was like an hour and a half mental work out to prepare to drink a protein drink. Trying to get 1700 calories (meeting my Fitbit goal of maintaining my weight) and the 60g of protein my nurse recommends. Any tips/advice appreciated.