One more XRT patient weighing in. I don't think IMRT was available when I had my radiation treatments back in 1997, but even if it had been, I doubt I would have been a candidate as I had an unknown primary. There was no tumor to aim at. I was fried from the tops of my ears to my armpits on both sides. One submandible saliva gland was removed during surgery on the assumption that it wouldn't work after radiation so 'why not'. Don't let them do this to you. I was given Salagen during and after my radiation treatments and lived on Ensure Plus orally for the last 4 weeks of radiation and a few weeks afterwards.

While I needed lots of water or milk to get down food, I never needed to carry a bottle of water nor was kept awake by a dry mouth. There were many food I was unable to eat like bread, crackers, chips, and potatoes due to dryness but any food that had moisture I could eat without a problem after about 6 months. I did have choking problems on certain foods, but avoided eating them. At this point, I don't even remember what they were. Once I became a total laryngetcomee in 2001 and choking was no longer an issue, I am now able to almost anything including chips and some breads. Crackers need a dip. So it wasn't saliva that was the problem but the ability to swallow these dry foods without choking. I'm now 9 years out of radiation and doing fine. My only regret on the radiation is that if they hadn't fried such a large area the first time, they might have been able to treat the tumor on the larynx in 2001 with radiation rather than surgery.

Take care,
Eileen