hi my dad has stage 4 throat cancer.it hit in the gums ,the tongue,and where your tongue meets your throat.it has hit all the lymphnodes above the neck.with grim statistics, my dad opted for combined radiation and chemo.he finished all treatments 3 and1/2 weeks ago.just a few days ago his tongue turned black.also in the back it looks like some type of growth because the sufrace of the tongue is lifted up and he can no longer stick out his tongue.he also has white dots and patches in his mouth.any thoughts?

Sorry it took so long for someone to respond to you. When a visible symptom occurs rapidly, such as overnight, as opposed to a long-term gradual appearance, it limits the types of problems that come to mind. Remember that your father has just had his immune system beaten up by his treatments, and a variety of opportunistic funguses, bacteria and virals can take hold without much resistance from the immune system. A fungal outbreak after the natural flora and balance of microorganisms in the oral environment has been disturbed by radiation treatments for instance, is a common occurrence. A condition commonly referred to as black hairy tongue is actually a fungal bloom and occurs quite rapidly, as does Candida fungus when the other organisms that keep them in check are destroyed by antibiotics, chemotherapy, or radiation. While it is hard to tell from your description if this is exactly what is happening, it could be a likely scenario. I would like to hear back from you to find out what this actually was when your doctors tell you. It will also help other readers of this message board who might be surprised some morning with a snow-white tongue (Candida Albicans) or something similar.

Brian thanks for answering i am her mother of Daddy's Girl the doctor said it was black harry tougue got the mircle wash and antibotics and Diflucan she hope's it will be gone in 7 days he has a PET scan coming up on November 7th as well as a MRI on November 12th so we can see what the next step is I notice that most people have surgery done to remove lymthnodes his metasized on both sides of the neck and the cancer ate from the inside out looks grim but we are hoping with Chemo as massive as it was along with Radiation everyday that this works she says she has tried it on six patients and they got to 2 years and she will call if cancer free do not understand that when she said that he only had maybe 3months to 8 months without the treatment maybe you can answer that for me it seems the other patients at stage 4 is still going through quite a bit he did not lose his hair he worked mostly but lost a lot of weight she says she zapped him with some highly toxic chemo he already had over abundance of red blood cells and thats why he did not become enimic but he is so tired still and requires a lot of sleep the other problem he had he would have to have a pint of blood taken out every 6 weeks because his body produced to much so he was our hemo and onc doctor do not no why she did not find the cancer she said that he had it a year or more before it was discovered also his denist was the one that found it and sent him to the ent that specialist in that field it is in the back of the tongue and other places on the inside cheek when they did the biopsy he says it was on both sides of the neck in his lyphnodes and mastized there excuse the spelling I guess that is all the history I can think of at this time i really am confused as is my daughter about the whole thing and am wondering what next

Bobbi......before I attempt to answer your question, I just wanted to add this comment. Please find the period key on your computer keyboard; this post was really hard to read!!

I suspected this was a fungus (black

Dear Brian, Bravo! That is the best explanation of oral cancer and survival that I have read. Thank you. LM

Good words Brian,

I am going to print this link, you have explained the cure/remission/survivor very well. This will help me to explain in the future.
Thanks..

Take care,
Dinah

Brian:

This is definitely a keeper and you missed your calling, kid-come and teach a nursing lecture for me because I think my students could understand you better!

File this reply to the "threads" column you are planning.

Cheers,

Kim

Thank you all for the kind words. The "gift of gab" can be both a blessing and a hindrance. I do not believe that anyone has ever used the phrase "economy of words" and my name in the same sentence!!