Does anyone have info on turkey neck? My doctors are nervous about it and I am too.

Tony

I am not sure what it is . Are you talking about the lymphedema in your neck ?

Tony -- If you are talking about the swelling that seems to come and go around the midline of the neck above the Adam's Apple, I can relate. As Sharlee says, it is lymphedema, or the lymphatic fluid looking for a pathway to follow. I assume that there was likely some lymph gland removal involved with your laryngectomy, and this would be a primary cause. Radiation fibrosis can exacerbate it as well, as I understand it.

I have heard conflicting views on whether or not massage of the neck is appropriate treatment for this. Other than that, it is supposed to improve over time. As long as the swelling is not masking a swollen node, I have been told it is nothing to worry about.

Do you find that it tends to be worse in the morning, then improve, and perhaps get a little worse at the end of the day?

That issue was raised about a year ago here . It must be something about Thanksgiving that promotes discussion of this topic!

All the best,
Leslie

Dr Ozer told me to massage my neck and it would speed the healing process. I know mine is very bad in the morning but as the day wears on it eases up.

Thanks, I didn't remember last Thanksgiving but I did go back and look up the topic. There seems to be a problem with a CT scan I got 2 weeks ago. Apparently the area under my chin showed as a mass and also there was some hit on some lymph nodes. My doctor says he doesn't believe that it is a mass and we will redo a PET scan in Jan. This will be 4 months. I have not had any disection of the neck or lymph nodes. Just a whole bunch of radiation. So I guess I was looking for some new info.

By the way, I don't have an adams apple anymore. I went through a Total Laryngectomy. So the area where my adams apple used to be it kind of scarred but getting much better. Does anyone recall anyone saying they had a recurrance in thier chin? I suppose it is possible but I don't know.

Tony -- Even though you did not have neck dissection, the effects of treatment are profound. Just the radiation causes anatomic changes on CT that a radiologist has to be very, very experienced with to recognize. Even then, everyone is different, so they often use the first PET simply as a baseline, and go from there afterwards. Lots of threads here on false positive PET scans.

My first PET showed a couple of lymph nodes, and both my surgeon and RO said not to worry. I am having it redone on Tuesday, but am not really concerned, as my neck has not changed a bit in terms of lumps and bumps, and I would have expected to have started seeing something had these been truly malignant nodes. Maybe not, but it makes me feel better. ;-) Take care.

My mom's lymphedema therapist massaged her dissection area on Wed, she has more mobility now. FYI, it was a bit uncomfortable for her, and the therapist was very gentle.

Donna

I peroiodically got neck massages at work (oncologist didn't think i needed them to prevent a turkey neck, but I could tell there was swelling). It felt good and I wanted to do whatever I could to help my recovery. After 7 months from treatment the therapist say she really couldn't tell the right side from the left. I can still tell there is a difference, but I've now switched to shoulder massages (for me).