Tongue cancer: How long is the process from treatment to recovery?

@tracey8

@krisohlson Thanks for replying back . So I guess once you get radiation you radiate for life..In other words it keeps working on you. My last throat radiation was in 2022 and I noticed my inside upper gums near my teeth or the roof of my mouth gets blistered now and then. This only started less than a year ago. I have had this mucous problem since after radiation which is coming from "above" the roof of my mouth 24/7. I am constantly snorting to get it out. I also use that nasal saline spray that helps getting it to slowly ooze out..Mucous won't come out by blowing my nose because it's thick. It feels like a marble above my soft palate which is obstructing my swallowing even after I get rid of it. I can swallow little gulps of water if I turn my neck to the left. I am seeing a speech therapist for the swallow exercises.

@gareee314 Follow the directions of your therapist. Do your exercises!
I had a mucous problem too. 2/3 of the way through radiation treatment in 2010, I had developed a runaway sinus problem. It was bad. It slowed to a point I could live with it after I had a stroke. I recovered from the stoke (4 days in the hospital) and when back to work. My mucous was thick as well. Now that I can't swallow at all, I gargle, hack & spit constantly. If you can improve your swallowing, maybe you start swallowing you mucous.

@krisohlson Thanks for replying..Even the roof of my mouth swells up like blisters just like after eating food that's too hot. My soft palate hangs lower after the surgery so that's a hastle trying to swallow. The mucous or lymph fluid collects above the soft palate 24/7. wakes me up after 2 hours of sleep every night. So I spray saline up my nose to try and clear it. It clears a little at a time..Too thick at times to just swallow it. The back of my palate feels cool to my tongue telling me radiation has ruined the circulation.

@krisohlson Thanks for replying..Even the roof of my mouth swells up like blisters just like after eating food that's too hot. My soft palate hangs lower after the surgery so that's a hastle trying to swallow. The mucous or lymph fluid collects above the soft palate 24/7. wakes me up after 2 hours of sleep every night. So I spray saline up my nose to try and clear it. It clears a little at a time..Too thick at times to just swallow it. The back of my palate feels cool to my tongue telling me radiation has ruined the circulation.

@gareee314 yes I agree, my doctor keeps telling me it will get. better? January will be 1 year. I also wake due to mucus feeling like your drowning.

@krisohlson Thanks for replying..Even the roof of my mouth swells up like blisters just like after eating food that's too hot. My soft palate hangs lower after the surgery so that's a hastle trying to swallow. The mucous or lymph fluid collects above the soft palate 24/7. wakes me up after 2 hours of sleep every night. So I spray saline up my nose to try and clear it. It clears a little at a time..Too thick at times to just swallow it. The back of my palate feels cool to my tongue telling me radiation has ruined the circulation.