 Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts)
Joined: Nov 2002 Posts: 3,552 | Hi Eric,
I had IMRT also and had a fair amount of pain from radiation burns, etc. They came to a head about 3 weeks post Tx. My doctor tells me salivary function return (at least the glands that weren't directly in the beam path) can take 1 1/2 years or more to recover. My salivary output is about 33% of what is was, 10 months post Tx. Sometimes I even forget my water bottle.
It's been a long haul. People told me a month for every week of radiation and that's about what worked out for me also. If you weren't a patient person before - this will retrain you.
Gary Allsebrook
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Dx 11/22/02, SCC, 6 x 3 cm Polypoid tumor, rt tonsil, Stage III/IVA, T3N0M0 G1/2
Tx 1/28/03 - 3/19/03, Cisplatin ct x2, IMRT, bilateral, with boost, x35(69.96Gy)
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"You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes" (James 4:14 NIV)
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