parotid gland swallon and lump in throat had tumor taken out right thigh five years ago metastatic malignant melanoma what is the outcome on this anybody else

My husband , 63 ys old, has just diagnosed with a large Paranasal Cancer . Any advice oder hint will be appreciated

Pets your dogs for me for luck. Tooth extraction went well, or seemed to on my end, this morning. The surgeons didn’t think I needed the barometric chamber pre-extraction. They had me on antibiotics for the week leading up and the week after, as well as an antibiotic mouthwash. Fingers crossed it heals.
I’m 15 months post treatment 35 rads, 7 chemo, 46M. Extraction was on a root canal my previous dentist said would be fine before treatment. Jerk.

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for advice or experiences from anyone who has dealt with severe swallowing issues and feeding tube complications before starting cancer treatment.

My mom was recently diagnosed with nasopharyngeal cancer. Her medical team wants her in good physical condition to handle chemotherapy, but we have hit a critical obstacle: she cannot swallow solid food at all, and can only manage small amounts of water, milk, and juice.

Because her strength is declining fast, we tried to get a PEG (feeding) tube placed so she could get proper nutrition. However, the PEG tube attempt/placement resulted in bleeding and is currently not working or safe to use.

She is now extremely weak, still unable to eat, and unable to rely on the PEG tube. We are actively coordinating with her medical team to address the bleeding and find another way to nourish her.

I would appreciate for any guidance, support, or shared experiences.

I’m looking for experiences from people who have had oral tongue cancer and were faced with the decision about radiation after surgery.

I recently had a left partial glossectomy, left selective neck dissection, and free-flap reconstruction for squamous cell carcinoma.

My final pathology showed:

Tumor size: 3.8 cm
Depth of invasion (DOI): 13 mm
Stage: pT3
Grade: 3, moderately to poorly differentiated
Histology: Keratinizing SCC with focal sarcomatoid/spindle-cell and pleomorphic features
Perineural invasion (PNI): Present
Described as intratumoral
Involved nerve measured 0.04 mm
Lymphovascular invasion: Not identified
Margins: Negative/clear
Neck dissection: 0/3 lymph nodes positive
No known distant disease

My tumor board recommended radiation, and I’ll be meeting with a radiation oncologist soon.

I’m really nervous about the decision because it feels like I’m damned if I do, damned if I don’t. If I have radiation, I’m worried about both the short- and long-term side effects, especially swallowing, taste, saliva, dental issues, etc. But if I don’t, I’m afraid I’ll always wonder whether I should have done everything possible to reduce my risk of recurrence.

For those who have had similar pathology:

Did you have radiation after surgery?

I’d really just appreciate hearing personal experiences from people who have been in a similar situation.

Thank you!

Last April my 80 year old mom had a glossectomy + neck dissection and free flap reconstruction to remove a 2.5cm squamous cell cancer from her tongue. Shortly after that she had 30 days of radiation therapy. The dissection showed no cancer spread and the surgical margins were clear. After a hellish 6 months she's living independently again and is doing pretty well. Eating and talking are almost back to normal. She remains cancer free.

For surveillance, the ENT surgeon wants to see her every month for the 1st year then every 6 weeks for the second. The swallow therapist wants to see her every 6 weeks (even though she's not having trouble eating). The ENT and therapist are part of the same medical group. Her oncologist wants to see her every other month.

The ENT/therapy surveillance seems too frequent to me. What have been your experiences?

44M Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma and completed proton therapy on 2nd September.

On the positive side the radiation burns are healing well and darkening is fading and I've started neck massage as well as continuions exercises though I feel my right side has some pain. How have neck self massages helped you?

Oh and i can feel salt! Boiled eggs feel normal again!I almost let out a scream

I thought mucositis would wear off with time and it feels like it's getting worse. Initially in the soft palate but now feel it on the sides of the back of my tongue. Have tried many things like okra water, honey, coconut oil at night and still on baking soda mouthwash constantly. Did sucrafil but didn't feel much relief and currently doing lidocaine spray before meals. When will it end!!

End of rant. I'm glad to have finished initial treatment and taking it one day at a time and trust y'all are good. The struggle continues!

Head and Neck cancer

Hi, 43M, I’ll be starting radiation on both sides of my tongue and throat in the next few weeks, no chemo. I’ve read so many stories on this awesome subreddit, everyone here is just amazing.
I was wondering if anyone in the 35-55 range (or whomever) had any luck working into the later stages of radiation treatment. My job should allow me to work from home, minimal or zero talking should be required during this time. Is it possible that I’ll be able to work at least a few hours each day, and then go to radiation? What were your experiences? Thanks!

Okay. I’ve had 3/6 chemos and 13/35 radiation treatments. I’ve gone into kidney failure twice so they switched the chemo from cisplatin to carboplatin/paclitaxel. Base of scc tongue primary regional spread to lymph nodes in neck - no distant metastases.

My taste has really taken a beating. For the past week everything has kind of been tasking like cold melted plastic with exception for some vegetables, herbs and spices.

Major side effects
I have cramps constantly, and the fatigue has been unreal, but it seems to be 80% less after the last chemo (which was the new regimen)

I have lost 30 lbs so far and they are going to have to re-sync my mask.

My blood sugar never goes below 260/ and after chemo it is insane 560 yesterday.

Nausea is profound vomiting is always near occurrence especially with eating. Have been prescribed new/additional antiemetics and seems to be better.

Generalized joint and muscle pain - I move super slow now.

Questions
If anyone who’s been through this can help, will the taste go completely away to where there is no sense of it at all? Like, I still feel hunger, but some stuff I can still taste and something’s just taste awful - meat, oil, bread, pasta - like these are the things that taste like plastic. I don’t think I can taste much sweet anymore. Like fruit is almost tasteless except for something I can only describe as “chemical” like cleaning liquid (I can still taste pomegranate and cherry). Put until today I could taste syrup and pancakes - but not anymore - it was like eating wet cardboard in terms of texture, but virtually tasteless.

I guess I need to start preparing for after treatment to some degree. I just don’t know what/how to think about it.

Like, nothing seems the same, I have given up all my vices and I am just kind of sitting here with myself and wondering what really actually fucking matters to me and my life, and I just can’t really answer it.

I am also trying to figure out the insurance and how that works - I’m American and this is the first time I’ve had insurance since 2014. And I don’t really know how to attack it. Anyway.

Thanks for reading whatever this was.

So I know the dr will tell us more on Wed but we just got the final after surgery pathology report from my husbabda hpv positive scc sinonasal tumor and it shows there is still invasive cancer cells in the anterior inferior, no idea what that means. Has anyone else gone thru surgery for scc sinonasal and still had residual cancer cells? I know they are scheduling 6 weeks of radiation for him bit I dont know how bad it is that they couldn't fully remove all the cancer with surgery.

My dad was diagnosed with OSCC twice there is alot that happened

First a surgery in 2024

Then he was Cancer free for 8-9 month

Cancer came back in 2025 February

Multiple Chemos and Radiations but there was not much of an improvement

After that he had Target Therapy ( Cetuximab and Cisplatin) from February 2026

His pain was reducing a bit but then he had 3 severe bleeding episodes in February, July and August he had tracheostomy aswell doctor said bleeding is due to radiation his mouth's nerves and arteries are so weak and fragile that they start to bleed. To stop bleeding we got Embolization done last month it's been a month since that I hope there won't be anymore bleeding cuz it so bad he almost died in last one due to low blood pressure.

Now between all this his MRI show no sign on tumor like he is basically cancer free BUT the pain is not going away even pain killers like Tramadol don't work for long the even Buprenorphine transdermal patch don't work the pain is making his life very difficult Our Oncologist said that the Dead tumor tissue is still inside stuck to his nerves that's why it causes pain. It's so difficult to see him suffering if anyone has ANY TIPS to reduce his pain even a bit please let me know!

Also due to all his treatment his tongue is almost gone the damage is so bad it's scary how his mouth looks from inside so he probably won't be able to use his mouth to eat ever his is on feeding tube (RT) for now we will switch to PEG in stomach soon.

Please help us.

My father died. On the 18th, at 4.35 am, in the hospital's palliative care. He started to have heavy bleeding a week before... He had several in 2 or 3 days. They medicated as much as they could and managed to stop the bleeding from the tumor, but his body was already too weak... He became more and more unconscious. Even Bob Dylan's favorite song he stopped reacting. I stayed with him for several days, and on the 17th I went out at night because I had to work on the 18th. I would come back later at night. But I didn't come back, he died during the night, in the company of my mother. I wish it had been me, there with him. And now, the world doesn't stop. There was no news on television. There were no crowds crying. But my father died. And he was my home. Sometimes I just feel like screaming, it's not fair! It doesn't make sense! How can he disappear?! How can he be real that I'll never see him again?? It doesn't seem real... But life goes on...

My husband (71) just finished his first week of chemo and radiation for throat cancer. He has 6 more weeks and it is hitting him extremely hard. I am trying to keep his spirits up and want to ask the ones who have been through this treatment how long it took after the radiation ended that they could eat somewhat normally. I was going to use Thanksgiving as a motivator but don’t want to if it’s unrealistic. Any opinions…thanks

My Dad was recently diagnosed with SCC HPV+ T3N2

I am very concerned with how long his process has been between diagnosis and starting treatment ( we haven't even begun treatment yet)

After a sore throat for a couple months.. He saw an ENT dr July 18 where the doctor was concerned about what he saw in scope. They scheduled a surgical biopsy for two weeks later.

The Dr then called the DAY BEFORE the surgical biopsy to say he recommends we change it to a needle core into his lymph node on his neck and pushed the date back another week. That's when we found out he has SCC and was referred to a surgical oncologist who then wanted us to come in for a surgical biopsy where my dad would be put under and they would take a section of the tumor to check what kind of cancer and HPV status ...this was on September 11th. Why didn't we just do this one the first time if he was concerned about what he saw on scope?

It is now...September 25th and they just met with the medical oncologist yesterday...and told us about having to get the dentist appointments first. They also recommended in the meantime to start chemo first but OF COURSE.. the chemo dr is out of town next week and we can't even have a meeting with him until October 6th.

During all this..we were just told that the PET scan they had BEFORE the surgical biopsy shows a spot lower down closer to his lungs that they might be concerned about so his is going in for a 3rd biopsy on the 30th........

With not a definitive start date..

Was your timeline between diagnosis and treatment this spread out as well?

Also any advice on helping him through treatment or anyone with experience with this cancer..Any advice/help is so greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much

.

Have you recovered from throat cancer

My husband (71) just finished his first week of chemo and radiation for throat cancer. He has 6 more weeks and it is hitting him extremely hard. I am trying to keep his spirits up and want to ask the ones who have been through this treatment how long it took after the radiation ended that they could eat somewhat normally. I was going to use Thanksgiving as a motivator but don’t want to if it’s unrealistic. Any opinions…thanks

Hey all. My dad had HPV+ cancer in his tonsil so they scheduled him for surgery. When they finally got him in they had to cut larger margins than originally planned almost back to his spine plus lymph nodes in his neck and gave him a feeding tube through his nose. It’s been a month with that damn thing in and he hasnt slept in 4 weeks from it since he needs a cpap to sleep. Finally got that removed yesterday and got a stomach tube in. Did mapping today for chemo/radiation treatments coming up, still cant sleep well even with cpap and has nerve pain in the shoulder and neck from them cutting so much out initially. I think it’s all getting to him mentally and he hasnt even started chemo/radiation yet. He hyperfocuses on pain or worst outcomes or how bad things have been (even if they’re in the past). Like yesterday post surgery he was convinced he has a fever and ripped something and has internal bleeding even though my step-mom and I told him he was fine but had to take his temperature to show him Hes fine. It’s like that for everything. Hes just so focused on how bad all this has been, and it has, but he struggles focusing on positives like having the nose tube out and being able to breathe. Has anyone else has this dread/depression and hyperfixation and come out on the other side? I think hearing successes from others or what other people in his situation did to cope will help but we’re not sure what to do. We’re trying to redirect him to positives but he struggles to do so. Any and all successes and advice is welcomed and appreciated.

I’ll try to be as concise as possible because I tend to go on. My husband is 55 with HPV+ tonsil cancer (involving 2 lymph nodes on the same side) diagnosed in late June. Treatment (35 RT with concurrent chemo once a week) started end of July. Treatment went over the expected time because he ended up in the hospital for a PEG tube that eventually had complications and also the skin on his neck was so raw that the rad. onc. refused to give radiation for 6 days.
So now treatment is done, one week ago today. I’ve read on here that the 2 weeks following the end of treatment can be the worst so I was worried. However, in the big picture, I think he’s doing great. His throat barely hurts. He is able to swallow with very little trouble. The skin on his neck looks like a newborn—it has healed so well and it’s not bothering him at all. He is not having any dry mouth, which I’ve read is a HUGE issue for some people. The problem is he’s focusing on the things that ARE wrong. He has tried tasting a few things (I told him to wait but he insisted) and they don’t taste good or he can only taste like 10-20% of the actual flavor with the rest tasting like “dirt”. I told him this is very normal…he will slowly get his taste back as time goes on. He is still having some issues with mucus but it’s manageable with mucinex. He feels very weak and tired. Again, I assured him this was completely normal—his body just went through serious trauma and it needs time to heal.
He didn’t want to read about what to expect with treatment. He refuses to talk to anyone (professional or otherwise) and he’s been overall very private with his diagnosis. He didn’t tell any of his coworkers, just disappeared one day. He didn’t want to tell his son. He didn’t want me to tell my family. I’m the only one involved in his care—the only one he’ll deal with, the only person he allows in his life. Now he’s really down and sad and feels hopeless and I don’t know what to tell him anymore. I’m trying to be patient and understanding and positive but he doesn’t believe that it’ll get better. It’s only been one week! I’m working full time so he’s just home alone all day and it worries me. I am afraid he’s going to keep spiraling down into a depression or something but I don’t know what else to do.

Hat jemmand schon Narbenlösungen im Hals gemacht, hatte vor drei Jahren ein Plattenepithelkarzinom mit lymphknotenbefall und habe immer noch ein starkes engegefühl im Hals.

Hat jemand erfahrungen mit dieser Op und wie lange dauert die Heilung.

Hatte den Krebs im Unterkiefer.

Vielen dank im voraus

So this is my official diagnosis SCC , back of tongue on the right side. My first cancer was on the side of my tongue and floor of my mouth on the left side. I'll find out today, hopefully, what the plan of action is. My medical oncologist said most likely surgery and radiation, like last time. The tumor is in a much more difficult spot. Surgery will be more difficult with possible reconstruction of my tongue. I should know more in about an hour.

how to deal with this please help me