And as anyone knows, I also love my wine and beer. Doctor sees no problem.

For those of you having trouble drinking wine, I found that I could drink dry white wines and beer in very small quantities a month after radiation. It felt good to sit down with a friend over a beer. It was a couple of years before I was able to drink red wine and then they had to be low in tannins. Now no problems.

Rule of thumb. If it burns your mouth whatever it is, don't drink it. No sense in irritating those tissues.

Take care,
Eileen

I agree with Eileen about staying away from whatever burns your mouth. To this day, I can't drink hard liquor or most after-dinner liqueurs because of the intense burning. Wine, however, typically doesn't burn my mouth and I tend to drink it with dinner fairly regularly.

Cathy

I've mentioned this one before, but the literature given to me by the hospital regarding post rad healing and nutrition suggests a Guiness a day might be a good thing, apparently Guiness has lots of stuff to help gain weight, etc. I suppose the closer to Dublin you are, the better it is. Anyway, asked both the ENT and Oncologist, both said an occasional glass of wine or beer would be ok, stay away from the hard stuff.

Robert, I can identify with your feeling about cigarrette smoke, here in China it's rare to find someone who doesn't smoke, and there's no such thing as no smoking areas. But then the pollution here will probably get me before the second hand smoke does.

Now, I will see if I can get a controversial thread going. As many of you know, the somewhat older profile of a "typical" SCC victim, if you will, was a 55 year old male that drank a lot (mostly hard liquor) and sometimes drinkers that smoked. Some of the older stuff I read drew more connection to heavy drinkers than smokers. In the last 5-10 years that has shifted quite a bit and now it is more unclear as to any direct correlations to at risk behaviors. I, for one, smoked pot for many years and even questioned with my doctors if this could have contributed. They all said studies did not indicate the connection (or correlation, statistically). I believe different because I have seen the inside of a pipe after a bigt weekend. Anyway, the doctor said if you continue the at risk behavior, you could see the cancer manifesting itself somewhere else in the path of the at risk behavior. So, for example, if you (me) were a heavy pot smoker, pot smoking in any degree could trigger the same cancer. By reaon, a heavy drinker/smoker that continues the behavior could see the cancer striking somewhere else.

This line of reasoning would say IF (and only if) we knew what caused the cancer, we should abstain. However, we will never know. An occasional drink shouldn't hurt anything unless any occasion will do. Excessive anything in life other than love seems to cause some trouble some how.

Ed

Because I have no intention of going through this again, I am doing whatever I can do to prevent it, and that is precious little. I figure that I probably had enough hard liquor and wine in my life to hold me, so I have decided not to have any more alcoholic beverages. Seems like a small price to pay, and I find that I have just as good a time as I ever did in social situations. Now if it was chocolate, THAT would be a different story (grin).

Ed, actually you have it backwards. The previous, and still correct number one risk factor is tobacco. Add alcohol (number 2 risk factor) to the equation and it's a cofactor double whammy. Alcohol alone was never number one, though by itself can be a significant risk factor. The most current thinking related to both tobacco and alcohol is that even in those whose risk factors were well known such as tobacco, a co factor in the mutanogenic ability of those two was HPV. We now know that for the 25% of us that didn't have the first two main risk factors this was a major player, but studies are finding that HPV is a facilitator even in those cancers, which are primarily tobacco related. Part of the puzzle of why some smokers get cancer and some do not.

I am up on this, since I have spent the past few weeks researching over the phone with the current thought leaders in all this at a variety of government and research facilities, the correct list of risk factors, since there is so much bad information out there, especially on the web. OCF is printing a "What you need to know about oral cancer" brochure for dentist office waiting rooms, and risk factors is the first chunk of it. The old wives tales of chronic irritation, poor hygiene, etc. having anything at all to do with oral cancer (which they do not), have got to be set straight. What I am saying in the brochure is that there are two types of risk factors, ones that you can control, and those that you cannot. In the cannot range are those that come from statistical issues, and those which are derived by socio-economic issues that lead to a distortion in the list of factors. For instance, blacks get it 2 to 1 over whites, and die from it 2 to 1 over whites. So lots of people say that being black is a risk factor. The truth is there is no biology / genetic issue or difference here; this is because of a list of things that are socio-economic and not biological. I won't go into it in length here, but if you are interested I can elaborate. Al this has to do with underserved populations in the US, both black and white and money/poverty, availability of healthcare, role models, and even education. Ditto the issue of age. As we age our immune system becomes incompetent, and older people get more diseases of all types than younger people. So age is a risk factor

Brian-
Let me know when the Dentist brochures are ready, I'll take a case of them!! - Kris

These brochures have been on my mind and partially done in my computer for two years. It wasn't until the McNeil Pharmaceutical Company, a Division of Johnson and Johnson offered to pay for the printing that they are actually going to get done. I might note that while I spend a portion of my time each day trying to develop a relationship with a corporate sponsor, they are a long time in developing. I began talking with the people at McNeil 2 years ago. More phone calls than I can count later, at Xmas time, they made this possible. It was a chance to get something good actually on the street that will encourage in office examinations, and correctly address the signs, symptoms, and risk factors of oral cancer as a four-fold brochure. While this allows OCF and I to finally bring to fruition something that is needed, it is a restricted donation and may only be used for this specific purpose. For those that do not know much about the world of non-profits, that means no part of it can be used for the actual expenses of the foundation's operation. So be it. We still get to do good, and one very small part of the plan gets to be put into place. We will also be exhibiting at the California Dental Association Meeting in May this year for three days and we will be aggressively trying to get dentists signed up at our booth as members of OCF and making further connections with in that arena. That is possible because CDA had generously offered us a 10-foot both space pro bono at the meeting. 25,000 dental attendees will be at the meeting over 3 days. Like J & J, the CDA relationship was almost 2 years in the making. It's a slow process. But a man who wishes to move a mountain, starts with a small handful of pebbles at a time.

Brian,
Moving pebbles at the rate you have must have been back breaking labor..but a labor of love. I am sure everyone appreciates all you do. The thread attracted my attention as I have often wondered what brought me here..I smoked & still struggle with the nicotine monster and I no longer drink hard alcohol socially, although wine still tastes fine if I brew my own.
Take care all
Maria

Thanks for the kind words. It is a labor which I have come to love, and to be honest after a very selfish life; I am quite surprised that it took me so long to realize that everything up to this point was superficial and egocentric.

Now, to something more important... If you are still struggling with tobacco, there are medical prescription grade supplements that can help wean you away from your addiction. If you are unsuccessful with the over the counter gums, patches etc. that is not the end of things. I will not push you here, but now that you have survived your first dance with the devil, I would be happy to point you towards things that you can ask your doctor about to get away from tobacco once and for all. In the long run a person who has an original SCC and continues to use tobacco will eventually reoccur, and that is a difficult task to defeat. While you have gotten this far, if you wish your future to be bright, you will have to remove this poison from your life. That's all the preaching from me; now if you need assistance on what to talk to your doctor about that might help you, please ask.