"Janet Wilder" > wrote in message
eb.com...
> On 5/29/2013 12:13 AM, Cheri wrote:
>> "Janet Wilder" > wrote in message
>> eb.com...
>>> On 5/28/2013 6:42 PM, Todd wrote:
>>>> On 05/27/2013 06:37 AM, Janet Wilder wrote:
>>>>> I can no longer eat hot jalepenos
>>>>
>>>> Old trick. If the heat gets to you, rinse your mouth out
>>>> with a handful of salt.
>>>
>>> Thanks, Todd. I can't eat any hot peppers due to having had half of
>>> my tongue removed because of cancer. The radiation treatments
>>> effected my taste buds and left my mouth very sensitive even though
>>> the radiation was well over 6 years ago.
>>> The salt would just kill me.
>>
>> I didn't know that Janet. I'm curious, were you a smoker? My BIL is
>> going through something similar and had surgery today to have cancerous
>> tonsils removed, and a cancerous lymph node. Were your tonsils involved
>> as well?
>>
>> Cheri
> Yes. I had been a smoker but had quit about 8 years before the cancer. I
> lost my tonsils when I was 5 so there was no involvement.
>
> If they are recommending radiation treatments for your BIL, HE MUST get to
> either Memorial Sloan Kettering in NYC, Johns Hopkins in Maryland or MD
> Anderson in Houston. Head and neck radiation needs a specialized support
> team including an oncological dentist, speech therapists (mostly for
> swallowing issues), and others. My DH's cousin had treatment for tonsil
> cancer at Dana Farber, a major Boston hospital, and he lost all of his
> teeth because they did not advise him of the special care and need for
> fluoride trays.
>
> Radiation kills off salivary glands and the absence of saliva causes teeth
> to disintegrate. Most hospitals don't provide a mouth guard to protect at
> least one salivary gland. There are dentists who specialize in dealing
> with the effects of radiation but they are hard to find outside of the
> three centers I mentioned.
>
> I would not disrespect any hospital for cancer treatment, but when it
> comes to head and neck cancer and radiation, the three hospitals I
> mentioned are THE ONLY ones. Any radiation center can do the protocol, but
> only a few have the specialized support teams needed. I'm really serious.

Thanks Janet, I will definitely pass this on to them today. He will be doing
several weeks of radiation and then chemo. They will know if his esophagus
is involved since they did a scope yesterday with biopsies while doing the
surgery. They will have the results on Tuesday. I don't think any of the
hospitals around our area Sacramento/Stockton are known for their cancer
treatments. He's kind of bullheaded, well, a lot bullheaded, but I think
this might be scaring him enough that he'll listen to other opinions.

Cheri