First of all congratulations on 4 years of survivorship!

I only have 14 months myself, post Tx, but my radiologist warned me about a permanent "texturing" of the muscles in the radiation field prior to treatment. There is definitely, what I would suspect, permanent damage in certain areas. It doesn't seem to be improving so I am assuming that it is part of the "new normal". I have also noticed that the area in the back of my throat is not a dark pink as it once was, tending to be lighter, almost white. I also no longer have a Uvula - it was toasted during the radiation. I don't have trouble opening my mouth (my wife would love to hear me say that!) but I have always had some pain while yawning.

I also had IMRT which may have lessened the damage to a more tolerable level.

Mark has over three years maybe he has some thoughts on this.