Swallow, Swallow, Swallow

April 7, 2011 – Swallow, Swallow, Swallow!

I wasn’t planning on posting today. I had a simple appointment to assess my swallowing as a base line so they can compare how I do after treatment. I had the same test 6 months ago and that test also showed I have some difficulties. Bottom line though is I have a chance of having problems swallowing in later years because of the long term effects of radiation treatment. You’re not done when you’re done. So I have 2 instruction sheets of exercises to do to keep my swallowing muscles strong. I’ll call them Kegel exercises for the mouth. This finding also reinforces the importance of my trying to swallow my way through the treatment no matter how difficult it is. I have read of people who were totally dependent on a feeding tube during treatment having big problems afterward. So if you’re an oral cancer patient reading this, I hope this information is helpful. 

Meanwhile, radiation starts Monday at 11:30 and chemo on Tuesday at 9 AM.