 Senior Patient Advocate Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts)
Joined: Sep 2006 Posts: 8,311 | Sone, do try and continue swallowing each and every day. I don't remember if you have a Peg or not? When my mouth started to "lock up" I would do what I called a "controlled yawn" meaning I would yawn and fire those muscles but control how far I opened my mouth but I felt it was important to continue keep both my swallowing muscles and my jaw opening muscles working. I may have been just lucky or my tissues were just not as damaged as others during Tx or this may have benefited me but I have never had any post Tx swallowing or trismus issues.
David
Age 58 at Dx, HPV16+ SCC, Stage IV BOT+2 nodes, non smoker, casual drinker, exercise nut, Cisplatin x 3 & concurrent IMRT x 35,(70 Gy), no surgery, no Peg, Tx at Moffitt over Aug 06. Jun 07, back to riding my bike 100 miles a wk. Now doing 12 Spin classes and 60 outdoor miles per wk. Nov 13 completed Hilly Century ride for Cancer, 104 miles, 1st Place in my age group. Apr 2014 & 15, Spun for 9 straight hrs to raise $$ for YMCA's Livestrong Program. Certified Spin Instructor Jun 2014.
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