Connect
← Return to Some things your Head and Neck Radiation Oncologist may not tell you.
Discussion
Some things your Head and Neck Radiation Oncologist may not tell you.
Head & Neck Cancer | Last Active: 5 hours ago | Replies (5)Comment receiving replies
Thank you @woodsy1. This is quite helpful to those who are experiencing long term side effects. I wish every medical team would discuss these issues prior to treatment but some people may choose not to choose an effective treatment due to possible future complications. Perhaps a discussion at the end of treatment like you had would be more acceptable with the medical team.
I am experiencing neck and facial fibrosis 14 years after Photon radiation therapy. I have had to bring it to the attention of my oncologist and ENT and options for treatment are not easily found.
Replies to "Thank you @woodsy1. This is quite helpful to those who are experiencing long term side effects...."
Connect
@sepdvm
Good point Sue. If we knew all the possible long term side effects from chemo , radiation and surgeries we probably would choose some different path with worse outcomes.
I told the post treatment specialist that it was a good thing I didn't know everything she was telling me to look out for going forward.
Cardio problems ? Really ? Fibrosis ? That's just the tip of the iceberg., the list is long.
And the dental issues would have been good to get on top of but I was 1/2 way through treatments when that came up.
So I scheduled a dental appoint to have dental trays made for applying fluoride and by that time my mouth was so sore the flouride burned something awful and had to stop using it until my mouth healed .
The dental issues from the radiation are real, had 3 cavities filled already so will probably be using the flouride trays for the rest of my life however long that may be. That said the alternatives to these treatments would likely be way worse. I would probably be dead already.