My Tongue Cancer, A Personal Battle With Throat And Mouth Cancer

OK, here is the gross stuff. I recommend not viewing the pictures of the tongue cancer radiation burns and blisters if you have a week constitution. Heck, I can’t stand looking at the radiation burns and I’m the one that has them!

Yes they are very painful, the silvadeen salve removes the pain but melts off in a couple hours and has to be wiped off and re-applied.

The tongue cancer radiation burns and blisters showed up about treatment number 24, they said it is different for everyone, just depends on how tough your skin is and how resilient it is to sunburn (another form of radiation burn).

OK here we go, first set of three are the radiation therapy burns on my neck:

That was front view of course and here is right side:

And here is the left side. Notice how even the lower part of my ears got burned.

This is the silvadeen salve that I used for the pain and rapid healing of the tongue cancer radiation burns and blisters. It goes on nice and smooth but soon sort of melts into the clumpy look you see here.

Needless to say while looking like this I don’t get out much, this image is about 6 days after the other images above and some healing has happened. Am surprised at how fast my tongue cancer radiation therapy burns and blisters are healing.

Until next post where i will have more disgusting photos….

Brian Ankner….cancer survivor!

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Today I start the countdown! This is the 24th radiation treatment for my tongue cancer meaning I only have 10 left!!!!!!

Unfortunately, the last 10 are the worst. It is a full time job just maintaining myself right now. 40-50 mouth rinses a day with baking soda water to thin and clear the mucus, 10 applications of creams and aloes on neck area. 5 feedings a day through the feeding tube of adult formula or a protein mix, 10-12 doses of liquid lortab 7.5 elixir pain meds. Not to mention the 1 hr. drive each way every day to the radiation therapy.

BTW, they took me off the road, no more driving for me on these levels of pain meds. My most excellent Brother Scott drives me to the treatments each morning. He has to drive 25 min. to get to my place, then drive the 1 hr. north to the cancer treatment center, then 1 hr. back south to my place and another 25 min. back north to his place. Don’t know what I did to deserve a great Brother like him. Oh yea, to top that off he doesn’t want anything for fuel expenses either!

Will post later today about what has happened over the last week or so that I haven’t posted about my tongue cancer treatments and conditions, have some photos of my neck area and hair loss. Some are pretty gruesome and will no doubt be displeasing to the eyes.

Till the next post,

Brian Ankner

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Last week my tongue started hurting really bad so I looked at it in the mirror and what did I see? Radiation therapy treatment blisters on both sides of my tongue. Ouch!!!!! These blisters are from all the fillings I have in my teeth. My Doctor explained that the radiation therapy treatments sort of bounce off the metal fillings and burn any tissue within 1/4 inch from the fillings.

When I am set up in the mask on the table I also have these special fitting teeth guards in place. The radiology dept staff made the guards for me. They are similar to those used in boxing and other close in contact sports. These guards are supposed to filter the excess ions from burning your tongue and cheeks.

My Doctor told me I would probably have some burning of tissues due to all the fillings I have (almost every tooth!). I will try to get my dentist to take a picture of inside my mouth to show you the extent of the radiation therapy treatment burns, for now I have a couple pictures of the sides of my tongue so you can see the radiation therapy treatment burns.

This is the right side of my tongue:

This picture is a little fuzzy but still shows the “fall out” burns and blisters on the top of my tongue. They appear yellowish in color:

The Doctor has bumped me up to 125 mcg p.hr. of fentanyl pain patches plus increased the prescription for the 7.5 lortab elixor to 10-15 ml every 2-4 hours. He also gave me a script for viscous lidocaine hydrochloride oral topical solution. It is a swish and swallow numbing agent that lasts about an hour. Sure is nice to be numbed up for a little while! Any relief is good.

The “Dr. Lacerna’s Mouthwash” list of ingredients is:
Tetracycline HCI USP 1500 mg
Hydrocortisone USP 60 mg
Nystatin 100,000 units/ml Susp USP
Benedryl 250 mg
Maaloox 350 ml

All of this is compounded (crushed, ground up, mixed) and is also a swish and swallow 10ml 4 times a day. It also provides a numb effect though doesn’t last as long as the lidocaine.

Oh, BTW, I am also losing my hair by the gobs! My chemotherapy Doctor said there may be a little thinning but because the chemotherapy dosage was so low I wouldn’t go bald. I don’t think he took into account that I was getting the radiation therapy treatments to my head area. On the back of my neck where the radiation goes through to the other side the hair is just plain falling out. I can reach back there and gently grab a few dozen hairs with my fingers and just pull it out without resistance!

Just noticed the hair thing yesterday during the shower, the drain stopped after rinsing out the shampoo. There was a pile of hair the size of a hockey puck covering the drain! Kinda freaked me out! Oh well, I always wondered what I would look like bald and due to the radiation therapy treatments I guess I’ll find out!

Until the next post,
Brian Ankner
P.S. hey, leave a comment will ya? I have no idea how many of you are following unless you leave comments!

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