Post Treatment Questions: low RBC and dealing with throat pain

I would say it took about 4-5?months after radiation before my eating and drinking was nearly normal. Throat pain gradually decreased. Taste returned ver gradually as well.,

I agree with @jonesja with 4-5 months. For me I had some pain for almost a year and getting back to an original normal never happened. One gets used to a new normal. Recovery from radiation takes far longer than almost any other body injury or damage might take.

In 2008 I was officially Stage IVB T2N3M0 on left tonsil caused by HPV and one of my 3 infected lymph nodes was over 7cm and that is not a typo. I had 35 rounds of radiation which amounted to 70 Gy and 3 rounds of the platinum-based chemo Cisplatin and had no surgery whatsoever as I got a second opinion that said I wouldn't need it and were extremely confident I wouldn't need a feeding tube either and they were correct, but it was not easy at all. Since I did not want to lose weight, it took me usually 2 hours to eat and had to blend a lot of food and had a box of Kleenex next to me as it was very painful to swallow. Took about 3 months from my last radiation treatment to have no pain except for spicy food which took longer.

I did research then and found in an England Journal of Medicine that honey could help soothe the throat. I did shots of real honey not the ones you find in your local grocery store which most all are synthetic and don’t have the same benefits. It definitely took some of the edge off for me. I would use Manuka honey which you can find on Amazon that scores UMF 10+ and MGO rating of 100+ is considered potent enough for medicinal use- the higher the rating, the more potent, and of course, the more expensive, the honey.
Taste could go away too for a period of time (mine was about 8 months) and will have dry mouth. To help with taste buds' and regain them faster people have found ACES + Zn® supplement works. It contains vitamins A, C, E selenium and zinc.

My red blood cell count was the lowest in the normal range and is even a little less today putting me outside the normal range, but my oncologist assures me it's not an issue as he says if needed it will spike and once again stated that to me back in March of this year when I was diagnosed with a different cancer.

You will get better. Hope this helps. Good luck.

Hello,
Be grateful that he is able to eat because it was nearly a year before I could eat by mouth and then it was only oatmeal. Still after 7.5 years I still have difficulty eating and choke very easily. I drink an extremely large amount of liquid while eating or else I can’t get the food down my throat.

The cisplatin caused hearing loss and severe tinnitus which I’m told will never go away….
I’m a victim of the Camp Lejuene toxic water so I’m not sure if it was actually my cancer treatments or the toxic water that caused my chronic migraines, hearing loss, tinnitus, chronic fatigue, irritability, brain fog, joint pain but it all came about during treatment…

Wishing him a full recovery and I’m thankful we’re ALIVE!

MOJO

My husband had chemo and radiation, this is going on four months since last treatment and he still has trouble eating, has to drink sips of water to wash some food down. They say it takes lots of time, he’s older man so not as quick. He lost hearing with cisplatin so will need a hearing aid. His pet scan is tomorrow, we’re nervous.

Just another input here….
Finished surgery and same treatments Nov 23….
Frustratingly (is that a word?) took full 5 months for throat pain to ease up. Still some irritation with certain things.
Blood cells red/white still a little out of range. Some kidney injury from cisplatin. Taste very slowly coming back but nothing really tastes GOOD yet. Weight very slowly coming back.

Make a list of those foods which require sips of water and then try to avoid them. My list for years included white rice, bread, white meat chicken, cake, popcorn, etc. Always make sure he has liquid prior to any snack or meal. I once took water from a restaurant patron when I ate before I had my beverage. Not a good day.
Be hopeful about the pet scan rather than nervous. Odds are it will be fine. However, scar tissue often shows as cancer so hopefully whomever reads the scan knows what they are doing. Remember, half of all doctors are below average. Courage.

Thank you

I wish he could gain weight, it’s going on the 4th month since treatments and he’s eating regular meals and can’t gain. The dr checked him for different things to see why but didn’t come up with anything. I’m worried.

My husband was diagnosed with HPV P16 positive throat cancer. He had several tumors around his neck that had metastasized. He went has a tracheostomy and a g-tube placed prior to 35 rounds of radiation and 2 rounds of chemo. After 3 mos post treatment his PET showed cancer free- he will need another scan in about a month which will be 3 mos since the last scan. He is now experiencing excruciating pain in his neck, shoulders and clavicle area and it has been a nightmare. Radiation and chemo was a breeze compared to this. He is on 20 mg of oxycodone every 4 hours and that barely takes the edge off, he has tried acupuncture, lymphatic drainage massage (he has alot of inflammation under his chin, has tried muscle relaxers and other pain medications to no avail. He will be getting a medical dispensary card soon and we're hoping THC will do the trick. We are told that this is normal and it will be a long road ahead of recovery as much as a couple of years and that it maybe a new normal that he will have to adjust to. Has anyone had a similar experience and any suggestions for pain relief?