Has anyone been diagnosed with salivary gland cancer in a minor gland?

Hi @vickimartin I see you are new here and I had given this post a while to simmer but no response as of yet to your situation. Most people in the head and neck group have had squamous cell cancers in and about the mouth, face and neck. Typical treatments of surgery often followed by radiation and/or chemo or in some cases just medicine.
For me it was a tonsil tumor with some intrusion into the sinus. Surgery and radiation left many serious mouth and throat issues among them the inability to open my mouth very far. I quickly learned to eat everything with knife and fork. Everything, sandwiches, chicken, ribs, hamburger, just every standard finger food you can think of. OK popcorn but that is done with chopsticks. Anyway my point is that often things such as the mouth don't work the way they used to. We learn to adapt and we try and try. Although my dentist is at odds with the situation as I would imagine yours would be as well. It has been getting better over the years with mouth exercises. Yawning for instance is not the knee buckling painful experience it once was.
Perhaps someone else might chime in here soon. In the meantime welcome and don't hesitate to ask questions here that likely only a patient would experience. We pride ourselves in that respect. Good healing.

My husband has parotid gland (major salivary gland cancer) and has had a parotidectimy w neck dissection, chemo and radiation. He is 8 weeks post treatment and doing well. He has the first set of scans over the next couple of weeks. When diagnosed it was Stage 4a. This grew very fast. 6ish weeks from first symptom to surgery. The radiation side effects began a couple of weeks into treatment but hit their zenith after coming back home.

Thank you for your reply! Yes, everything I eat gets cut up into small pieces and eaten with a knife and fork.

I had salivary gland cancer twice. 2015 and 2021. It was only after the second that I got the mouth opening problem. It hasn’t recovered but keep trying the exercises. They worked the first time for me. This time it’s permanent but I’ve become used to it. Certain foods just take too much work. Like steak but once it’s flat, thin or soft I can eat most things. Take small bites. Too big a bite just makes it uncomfortable to try and chew it up

Thank you for your reply! Small bites, Yes! I also do the exercises the speech therapist and physical therapist taught me. Also, the doctor had me purchase a TheraBite to exercise with. The doctor told me that my mouth opening will probably not improve, but to keep exercising so it doesn’t get worse.

Hello @vickimartin , I was 34 when I had acinic cell carcinoma, R. parotidectomy. The margins weren't clear, as the tumor was spreading onto my face. This was 1994. The radiation was harsh, doctors tell me that now. I lost all my hair on the back of my head and it didn't come back! Good thing I like short hair and was just glad to be cancer-free.
I lost my hearing for almost a year after that. Now I have learned to cope with tinnitus and hearing loss requiring hearing aids. I'm just grateful for all I can do to cope.
I've learned that while illness informs my life, it doesn't define me.
My mouth gradually (a couple of years) became easier to talk and speak. However I have the same problems everyone has mentioned with swallowing. (Plus I have Sjogrens Syndrome, autoimmune illness. This causes dry mouth also, )
For everyone: The best thing I've learned is to give myself time to cope with new symptoms. In time, they become part of my day. I don't focus on symptoms the same way once I get information and take care of basics!

My husband is experiencing the dry mouth as well L parotidectomy, stage 4 which was 6 weeks after first symptom. We voted today and he was saying his lips were stuck to his teeth. We both just laughed because I've had Sjögren's syndrome for 30 years and today was the day I didn't have water in my purse. We looked goofy walking to the car with teeth showing!! He did let me know he doesn't want to experience any other symptoms of the autoimmune diseases I deal with. I said deal, then we grabbed the water from the car. Thankful for each day!