Cclark,

My mom still has an area that hasn't completely healed and she finished her radiation well over a year ago. All her scans are clean and still show a little swelling in the area but both the dentist and her ENT feel confident that it is not cancer. My mom also went through a long period of time after treatment where she had no appetite at all. It took her until now to finally be at a healthy weight and look like her old self again. She still has some pain issues because of bone exposure and I can totally relate to your anxiety from what the doctor said. My moms ENT was always very frank with us let us know when there were areas of concern. I can remember going crazy thinking that something was wrong whenever there were areas of concern but now she is healing nicely and everything looks good.
I'm very happy to hear that the CT scans look good. Please let me know how the HBO treatments go. I really want my mom to look into those.


Dani

Well, we got a lucky break today. I called the cancer hospital to schedule an appointment with the surgeon next week to get my husband's biopsy results. Even though the surgeon had told us that she would only deliver the news personally (and she is on vacation this week), her (kind) nurse told us the results were in and there was no evidence of cancer. We were both elated, of course. He has an appointment with the surgeon next Monday, and if she stays true to her word, she will give him a script for the hyperbaric oxygen treatments. So, maybe he'll finally get that non-healing spot taken care of. I wonder if this treatment will help the inflammation in his neck left from the neck dissection and radiation as well? We'll find out soon, hopefully.

That's *wonderful* news! I've been thinking of the both of you and hoping that was the news you would hear. Thank goodness there are kind nurses who will let you know good news ASAP.

I am very curious about the hyperbaric oxygen treatment and how it goes so I look forward to leanring more when it happens for you. I still have several not healed and very tender spots (though I'm just 6 weeks past rad) to the point where I'm not able to eat and am still using the tube even though I'm dying for some real food. Its nice to know that kind of treatment can actually speed up healing if necessary.

You don't have any published research on that (HBO helping with post-rad healing of mucostistic sores), do you? If you find out about any, could you give me the citation?

Hi Nelie, I haven't been able to locate any published research on HBOT helping with post-rad healing of mucostistic sores. We go to Moffit Cancer Center which is now ranked #13 in the country. The Moffit surgeon said she has been using HBOT in cases such as Jerry's and has 'seen excellent results'. I also happened to notice this Q&A article in Prevention magazine this week regarding HBOT. Here is the link -

http://www.prevention.com/article/0,5778,s1-1-74-311-5410-1,00.html?

Jerry's appointment with surgeon is tomorrow. I'll post more as we progress. We're pretty excited about the prospect that this might help him heal more quickly. We'll see.

cclark,from #1983 to #1982 . glad to hear your news. Hope Jerry gets the treatment he wants. Amy

cclark, I hope the appointment with the surgeon went well. Thank you for the link.

Nelie, The appointment went well. She said she had biopsied 'the poop' (her words) out of his mouth and found no cancer anywhere. Anyway, she gave a script for the hyperbaric oxygen treatment and he meets with the doctor for the initial appointment next Thursday, then should start treatment after that. I have to tell you he is balking at this a bit right now after finding out the extent of what is required. There are 30 "dives" (in the oxygen chamber) involved, 1-1/2 - 2 hours each, 6 times a week for 5 weeks. Only one hospital in our large city has this available and it is probably about a 60-90 minute drive round-trip. So it sounds like it will be about a 4 hour event almost every day for 5 weeks. The treatment itself is basically just sitting and breathing, and he can apparently bring in books or watch videos. He is not real thrilled about doing this especially after the 6-1/2 weeks of radiation treatments daily from a few months ago. I'll keep you posted on progress.

Oh yeah, the surgeon said that it looks like a "hot spot" was caused by too much radiation at the surgery site. She is asking the rad onc to go back and review his measurements and treatment plan to see if he can locate the cause of the problem.

Jerry had his appointment with the hyperbaric oxygen doctor today. The doctor and the guys who watch over the therapy were all extremely nice and took a lot of time to explain everything. I get the feeling this is maybe a fairly new thing to send someone for this kind of therapy so early after radiation treatment ended (10 weeks out). He did say that it is fairly common for a radiated surgery site to have this healing problem. As I understand it, the radiation destroys the blood vessels (in the radiated area) and reduces the 'vascular density?' or blood flow to 20% of what it was pre-radiation. Without the blood vessels in a particular area, the tissue won't heal and in fact the damage will expand over time. Hyperbaric oxygen brings the blood flow back up to 80% of what it was pre-radiation (permanently). The Dr. said it would heal the soft tissue damage, improve his xerostomia (dry mouth), improve the swelling in his neck, and sense of taste. I guess it can bring back sensation to people with peripheral neuropathy as well. At any rate, this was different than what Jerry's surgeon had told us as she said this would not be a panacea and would only heal the mouth 'wound'. So, it was kind of exciting to hear that he might see improvements in many areas. We were also a little concerned over whether this might increase his odds of cancer recurrence with the improved blood flow, but the doctor steered me to some studies that showed it did not. In fact one showed it improved his odds somewhat. (Google R.E. Marx for related info). So, he's schedule to begin on August 8th. He was told he wouldn't see improvement for 20 'dives' (1 dive per day, 5 days per week). This is another daily 'event' like radiation except you just sit in an oxygen chamber and breathe pure oxygen and feel better over time instead of worse. Between the drive and the 2 hr oxygen session, he will be spending 4 hours a day on this for anywhere from 1-2 months. The end result sounds really well worth it, but I am a little surprised that it takes all this for such a small area in his mouth - and so soon after radiation. He is not a happy camper about the duration and daily time this will take. However, if it does all they say it will, it sounds like he could be in pretty darn good shape overall within a few months. I haven't seen anyone else on this board mention hyperbaric treatment except in relation to having dental work done or to treat an exposed jawbone. Has anyone else been prescribed this for soft tissue injury caused by radiation at the surgery site?

Hi, My husband had to have 30 sessions of HBO and it sounded so bizarre when we were first told. He needed it because after radiation all his teeth had to come out and they were afraid of bone infection.
He also had to travel an hour to get there and it took a lot of time. We both think it was well worth it because he had no trouble healing and everything else seemed to heal faster too. He just seemed to be in so much better shape after the thirty dives then before. Eileen

Hi,
I had HBO last fall.
For me, it, or something else I did, really worked!
After surgery and radiation I had infections about 3 times and the tissue around my split jaw was not healing. A titanium plate, a loose screw, and a lower tooth were removed. Dr Surgeon was talking about bone graft surgery to repair the area. It preparation for surgery, and with the possiblilty that it might help, I did 30 "dives".

Well, I healed so well that there was no need for aditionally surgery! (and I know from Minnie's comments that it is no easy thing). I have had no infections in the ~ 8 months since HBO. So for me it worked out really well (The gum tissue around the jaw incision grew back and the soreness went away).

My radiation oncologist prescribed Trental and Vitamin E, which also help the blood flow to the area & tissue repair. The HBO Dr suggested L-arginine and calcium supplements, so you might want to ask about those.

HBo is also used for wound healing in diabetics.

Yes, the daily treatments and commute takes a lot of time. It because almost like a job for 2 months. But the Good thing, is that it doesn't hurt! And considering other treatments, it seems relatively easy.

I found that it made me sleepy, or more tired, which at first I thought was odd because it any thing I seemed to be getting MORE rest, since I was in the tank resting for 2 hours. But the techs explained that the oxygen speeds up your entire metabolism, so that you feel hungrier, need to eat more, and need more sleep.

At my location, I could not read, but they had a library of videos. It also is a good way to watch a TV series that is now out on DVD.

Good luck!
(and I'd be happy to answer any questions, but as I am much healthier now, I don't check in as often to OCF.)