Follow-up PET Scan shows something

@kamrin I had tongue and lymph node cancer followed by thyroid cancer, too! The thyroid cancer was found during pathology of lymph nodes during first cancer. I will say the thyroid surgery and recovery was easy compared to the first cancer. Here's hoping yours is as well.

Hi, I just finished 35 treatments of radiation and 7 chemo for voice box cancer with 1 lymph node. I had the same issue with those creamy drinks. My son put me on clean simple eats protein powder (chocolate brownie batter. I still can't taste but I can smell. Mix with water not milk. Did the job for me. Also a good one lineage ab complete original. Mixed half and half with the first one. Again with water. I put crushed ice in mine. 😀

@shuf Your use of water over milk might just be the ticket for those of us who battle mucus or phlegm. I know I have more mucus when I eat dairy. A lot of protein replacement powders are dairy based but I've recently seen some on Amazon that are plant based. I'm wondering if using non dairy protein shakes might help some of us struggling with mucus overload. Might be worth a try.

@kamrin I tried freezing Boost and eating it like soft serve ice cream. It helped me maintain my weight!

Yes. All PET Scans, 3 of them, have been lit up like a Christmas tree. A biopsy after the first scan was negative and they found a sinus infection. I had three months of antibiotics and a balloon sinuplasty. Each subsequent scan three and then six months since radiation shows reduced inflammation (from a score of 11 to 7 to 5.) My radiation oncologist ordered an mri, not a PET scan for the next evaluation.

@kamrin
Doing pretty good almost 4 mos. post treatment , eating everything with taste buds working again mostly, swallowing good but some dry mouth and bouts of fatigue at times. ,
Lost 10 lbs overall but having trouble gaining it back. slow process.
Had a couple tooth cavities filled this week .
For food lots of ice cream (soothing) and oatmeal mixed with walnuts and fruit like bananas and chopped dates. Just now tasting coffee again.
I admit it was hard to eat at times when taste was absent, I forced the boost down chocolate being the easiest.

@sandy8043, if I hadn't done the TORS surgery, I would never had known. How long is the recovery?

@woodsy1, Im glad your taste buds are coming back. My side effects happened approximately a month later. That was the real kicker. Ive lost close to 80lbs. I was overweight when I was diagnosed but 80lbs is still alot even for me. Im continously using the magic mouth wash and tynenol. I miss having some spicy food and everyone keeps telling me to stay away from sugar. I also ended up with a viral infection, so eating has been difficult. Lots of congestion. Do you ever feel like gagging when you swallow too much water?

@kamrin
Yes had a variety of swallowing issues but mostly gone now.
My ENT put a scope down my throat through my sinus cavity about 6 weeks post treatment.
Overall pretty good report but noted some thickening of the epiglottis so swallowing feels somewhat different than before treatment.
Did have several episodes of Thrush during treatment though so pretty uncomfortable during those.
Geez that's a whole lot of weight to lose . Maybe not a good time to be fussy
about what foods to eat until you get the weight loss stabilized .
Just finding something that has taste was difficult for a few months in my case.
Getting that sense back really makes you appreciate it and you should be there soon if not yet.

@shuf I've been using regular flavored almond milk and believe it or not I can taste it? It works and it tastes really good compared to things I can't taste at all.