My husband is 5 weeks out from completing radiation and chemo. He is so much worse than he was after surgery. His tongue and mouth feel swollen most of the time and he doesn't have much control over his tongue. He can only manage swallowing water. His G tube provides all of his nutrition. Last week we were in the ER because he couldn't swallow hardly at all and felt his airway was getting smaller. They did a CT scan and scheduled to to a swallow evaluation next week. So my question is have any of you that had similar surgeries had the same issues? Do you think 6 weeks out for a swallow evaluation is too soon? Do you have any suggestions to alieviate the swelling that seems to be constant? I would appreciate any advice or comments.
Thank you,
Valerie

Hi Valerie, 5 weeks after radiotherapy I was just about drinking water too - I lost the ability to swallow during the treatment altogether. However, I didn't have any breathing issues.

It took me quite a while after this before I could manage even thin soup or yoghurt orally, but once I could things speeded up a lot - just over 3 months after treatment I could take all my nutrition orally (in blended form).

My facial swelling was definitely going down by 5 weeks, though everyone is different. The improvements are slow at this time, and it is very frustrating, because having completed the treatment we 'expect' to feel better faster than it actually happens.

good luck and hopefully things will improve soon,

John

Valarie,

I'm a little confused...you say your husband is 5 weeks Post Tx but your signature line indicated Tx ended Dec 27 ? Believe me that difference can make a BIG difference in his initial recovery.

That said, I didn't have the Peg and by far the 2 weeks post Tx were my worst but around week 3 I walked out of that damn tunnel and slowly started to recover. I never did have swallowing problems which I attribute to not having the Peg forcing me to swallow to stay alive which I just barely did.

David,
He finished in November not December
Thanks for noticing my mistake
Valerie

Hi my name is Lola - My husband completed treatment the end of June, chemo, rad, and a target drug. Still having trouble eating and talking sometime. He is having a PET scan monday. Very depressed. He thinks he should be better by now, but I keep telling him it could take longer than he thinks. Does anyone have any hope or help to offer...

Loa,

It's best to start your own post so that we can give you undivided attention.

That said, tell your husband that his recovery will be a lot slower than he wants and expects. It's not like recovering from from the flu or a bad cold. His body was probably taken to the brink of death and many many good cells were destroyed along the way affecting many of his bodily functions. Most of us continue to recover for close to 2 years and sometimes longer. It just depends on his body. Tell him that he will usually not see any changes directly but over time he will notice slight improvements and those improvements will add up over time to return him to a new normal state. He justs needs to sit back and relax and let his body do it's recovery on it's own timetable. If you want more details on how I progressed just post me.