Lisa, Jack had swelling from lymphedema and part of his physical therapy was learning the massage techniques to improve that. The PT also fitted him for a facioplasty sling - like a jobt stocking that goes around the head area - and he wore that at night to help the swelling.

The good news is that all of this gets better. In Jack's case the swelling improved dramatically after a few weeks and then leveled off. It took several months to finally go away all together but it did. He's also had good return with range of motion.

Has anyone talked to you about getting a Therabyte jaw exerciser? Our insurance did pay for it since it was a medical necessity. It sounds like your Dad is having trismus - if you do a search here and on the home page you will find all kinds of information. In the meantime, stretching exercises like yawning help too.

Great news on the results.
Regards JoAnne


JoAnne - Caregiver to husband, cancer rt. tonsil, mets to soft palate, BOT, 7 lymph nodes - T3N2BM0, stage 4. Robotic assisted surgery, radical neck dissection 2/06; 30 IMTX treatments and 4 cycles of cisplatin completed June 06.