Well I am happy to report that even with a dime size tongue I can still talk. However I still can't swallow the salvia so I have a mouth full of it which makes talking almost impossible. Of course then I also can't breathe too. So what to do. Has anyone out there had radiation before they had the surgey?????? If so I would truly love to talk to you. THanks, Vicki Lynn

Vicki there just HAS to be an answer to this very real problem. On one hand the knowledge that you can speak. On the other the impossibility of carrying out the thing you want so much.
I feel there has to be a surgical way round it. I remember the concierge where I used to live in Paris had the very same procedures as you and went to a teaching hospital somewhere and eventually they tackled it and she was able to be her usual bad-tempered self again!
And we are talking two decades ago. I have completely lost touch and wouldn't know where to find her if she is still alive. She was about 80 then.
Use the internet as I know you do. But try some Australian hospitals. I seem to have read they are pretty good on speech therapies there. And in China where they have the most p[rolific smokers
in the world.
I can imagine how it feels. I often have to stop in mid sentence and go out to have a saliva spit. Do you think it also might be that6 you are still trying so hard on the sound that your saliva control is slipping or isn't there anythingyou can do about it? I'm off to do just that as the banana and egg shake I made is just too......woosh!

Regards Ishbel
Ishbel

No Ishbel it will not go down. It is really thick as well. The doc wants to do a barium swallow but i am terrified to do it. if i choked on salvia, i cannot imagine what water would do to me...but thanks for all the info...always vicki lynn

Hi Vicki (sorry Blanche ),
Is there a prominent diffence to side effects when having Radiotheraphy before Surgery rather that afterwards ?

Paul

Oh yes there is. You see after radiation the neck area is hard and the tissues are so burnt. Therefore it is harder for them to heal. As if you have the surgery before the radaition, the tissues are alive and well. This meaning that they can heal then they start the radaition. The outcome I feel is the same. However you have a running chance if your tissues aren't damaged already. This is why I am having such a time with all this. If it wasn't for the radiation, twice, before, I would have been better a long while back. By this I mean no trache, no feeding tube. But since my throat is so burnt up buy the radaition then the surgery, well it just is having a hard time of it trying to heal. Hey I had a lot of healing to do, I am just proud of this little ole body for giving it all she has to date. She, my body, has been a fighter for me. I cannot fault her, she has done her best...Better than they thought I would do. I really did take care of myself tho. I always have. I think that has a lot to do with it, I really do. Esp. my mouth. I carried floss in my purse, in my desk at work, I was always brushing my teeth, carried a toothbrush with me also..I was a clean freak you could say. So I am shocked that I got the CANCER in the mouth. I really was.. Oh well to late to sing that song again. Always, Vicki Lynn