Thank you all for the advice and support. I am really feeling not very ready to go back to work. Partly because of the mouthpain, partly because I'm still taking painkillers and on the tube for all my nutrition! Thank goodness it's going to be a little less than full time because of the 2 banked overload classes I had that i redeemed for a lower teaching load. Anyway, I don't have to actually be in the classroom for almost two weeks but I have to be there and participate in a bunch of meetings starting tommorrow so we'll see how it goes.
Minnie, I used the Biotene before I had radiation and found it very helpful when my mouth would get sore then but actually i find Biotene mouthwash stings my mouth (as does almost everything except water with baking soda and salt and sweetened tea) these days (I still try to use it a couple of times a day though, unless the mouth pain is really bad).
Barb, I put the biotene oral balance gel on the roof of my mouth at night before I go to sleep and it does help a little with the pain at night. I probably need to do that more during the day too. Are those kind of hard little ridges and valleys in the tissue there normal? I'm not sure I'd know if my mouth was like that before all this, though I know I can feel them with the tip of my tongue in a more distinct way now so I think they must have gotten more ridge-y.
As for the suggestions about going to the dentist, I had been thinking I should wait until my mouth was less sore before seeing the dentist but I think I need to see him soon anyway (it's been two months since the end of rad) because I need to get a high-fluoride toothpaste until it hurts less to use those trays. I tried to call him Thursday but got his office too late and then the office is closed Friday. But I'm going to be on the phone first thing Monday peading for him to get me in ASAP.
The thing is the part of my teeth that rubs against teh sore spot on the tongue isn't so jagged that by itself it would cause major irritation I don't think. But my tongue was swollen and sensitive from rad and so it rubbed more. It's also right next to one of the teeth I have missing and once I get a bridge put in there it may be a moot point since I think my tongue kind of gets pushed out more because of that gap then gets irritated by the tooth next to it. Finally, this is aggravted even more by another problem I'm still having which is I sometimes (on average every other day I'd say) get the dry heaves in the morning. I'm almost positive this is ebcause of some nasty-tasting phlegm that accumulates in my throatn at night gets very dried out and sticky and then, because it is near that part of the throat that triggers my (sensitive) gag reflex, I get these very strong heaves shortly after I wake up in the AM .
The heaves usually don't last long but they are strong and push my tongue against my teeth, which I know aggravates the soreness there. I am trying to learn how to control this heaving reaction, including drinking some fliuds overnight in hopes that will help, but I'm not having much success so far! Has anyone else had this kind of problem?
How long can I stay on the tube, without eating anything and drinking almost nothing, without causing permanent damage to my chances of ever getting back to normal? I am getting worried about that too. I saw my rad oncologist (the one from Roswell Park) Wednesday and he did an exam that was thorough enough to reassure me that none of this is probably a sign of recurrence (and of course my ENT said teh same thing abotu three-four weeks ago) and did say that it's not too unusual to still be having mouth problems two months after rad but I know he ahd hoped I'd find I could eat something by now.
