Question On Radiation Therepy for Oral Cancer?

Question

After surgery, is it normal to have high doses of Radiation for the head and Neck, if Cancer is on the tongue? Also, is 5 days a week, for 20 minutes each session of radiation for 7 weeks total a lot ? How many ppl get long term side effects, such as loss of Saliva glands or infections?

Answer 1

My brother had cancer on the tonsil (squamous cell carcinoma) and had radiation 5 days a week for 6 weeks as part of his treatment.

20 mins sounds a long time! Are you sure this is all radiation time and not just set-up time? My own appointments for radiation were 20 min appointments but actual radiation time was about 90 seconds!

My brother experienced severe mouth ulcers during the course of his treatment, to the point he was having difficulty swallowing. He was on a drip for fluids and lost a lot of weight! His salivary glands have been permanently affected and he now has to have a sip of water with each mouthful of food when eating.

But he is ALIVE!!! Happy and healthy again!

We were diagnosed with different cancers within a month of each other so went through treatments together - we made an interesting totem pole when both bald from the chemo! LOL.