Hello everybody.
My wife has been diagnosed with throat cancer and will start her radiotherapy next week. I wonder if somebody can tell me where I can buy Colgate Gel Kam or similar Flouride Treatment to try and protect her teeth?
thanks

Hi, sorry to hear about your wife. I wouldnt know where to obtain those products but just wanted to say my thoughts are with you all.shell

Hello Adrian

Sorry to hear about your wife's throat cancer. There are good practical tips related to radiotherapy of the neck area in Pauline's story at EXPERIENCES > PAULINE'S DIARY.

Try your local pharmacy (e.g. Boots) or try
Dental Health Boutique (mention me):
Phone: 01483 479040
Fax: 01483 479001;
Email: dbrowne@dhb.co.uk

There is information and advice to be found at PATIENT'S GUIDE > COMPLICATIONS and PROFESSIONALS > DENTIST'S ROLE II.

Let us know how she does. we will help where we can.

Best wishes
Vinod :coffee:

thank you for the advice, have already surfed extensively and read all the horror stories, thank you. I am not sure if sometimes ignorance is bliss.
Tried Boots, they do not have it, thanks. Found a dentist who will supply it.
According to specialist at Christies my wife has a good chance of recovery after radiotherapy treatment.
Wish us luck
thanks

Adrian I agree they do seem like horror stories. I think the expereince of various treatments is different for everyone. For example I found having the mask made the most claustrophobic experience of my life, but some think it an ok experience. Maybe it depends how far down and how far up it goes on your face. I saw a variety of mask types and some were not full masks to include the cleavage area and forehead as mine was. It is 12 months since mine was made - I can say yes I would go through that part again now, but I know I would hate it.

Horror stories - I still read them sometimes and sometimes I have to stop and tell myself I will worry about this if I prgress to that stage. I think having some knowledge prior to the events prepares you for it. Not every problem happens for everyone. Some are stronger than others and although there are similarities each person reacts differently. The care of your support team seems to vary no end even in the same town.

I repeatedly read the skin breaks down after about 20 days - had no real idea what this meant until it happened to me and it was why we took photos of it and recorded it as no pics were available on the web.

Good luck. The best tip for radiotherapy I can give your wife is to drink 5 or 6 pints of water daily starting early in the day and use the aqueous cream liberally 4 to 6 times a day. Rest a lot. After about 4 weeks when the skin breaks use Intrasite gel on the skin's broken areas. Do not use intra site on infected areas though.

You do feel lousy during therapy and for up to 2 months after it. I really felt like I had been through the mill, to hell and back. At one point a few weeks after therapy stopped I thought the radiotherapy had finished me off and it was hard not to get low about it. That's when you will need to watch your wife is getting enough nutrition. If she is NOT - get her to hospital and ask for a feeding tube or PEG fast.

Good luck to you both.

thank you for your reply.
I have read your story and did find it very helpfull, and encouraging, but on the other hand somehow could not show it to my wife.
Thanks fore your advice I will pass it on

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Originally posted by shelley:
[qb] Hi, sorry to hear about your wife. I wouldnt know where to obtain those products but just wanted to say my thoughts are with you all.shell [/qb]

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Thanks for your thoughts, saw that you are from South Africa, we love the country have lived there for 2 years a long time ago, and it is the only place where we keep going back to. Funnily enough it was the place my wife wanted to go to when she was diagnosed with Cancer. went to the Kruger park in August.

It's very understandable that you don't want to show the pics to your wife.

They may be more helpful during the appropriate radiotherapy stage sometime to show her at similar stages how somone else was burnt, but did heal well.

At some point it might be useful to ask her if she wants to read stories of other people. As someone who has been through this I can only say it is a relief sometimes to find information that somehow you cannot bring yourself to ask doctors. Also sometimes they just don't have the answers. Some of the best answers come from those who lived the experience. IMHO as long as in reasonable health (albeit with cancer)most people can tolerate prescribed radiotherapy, but it is not fun. Most things that happened were tolerable and yes it would have been nicer not to have it done, but it was tolerable and had to be done.

She should constantly remind herself that if she feels lousy the cancer cells feel even worse.

Good luck to you both.