Are you wondering what happened to me and what caused my long silence?

The short answer is that I had to take time out to overcome serious post treatment complications of radio therapy.  I now have a brand new jaw - Bionic woman and all that.  I have joined a great support group. You will be introduced to some of them in future posts.  Getting lots of pretty new teeth, and I am in the process of getting a great new smile.  Will tell you about my reconstructive journey in future posts. 

Reflecting on what I have blogged so far made me ashamed of my self indulgence and lack of expressed gratitude.  I need to apologize to you for having been so self absorbed. Although the process of writing about my experience was cathartic to me, it was intended to share experiences with you for information sake, and sometimes, I overstepped the line.  You were kind not to comment about it.  So no more pity parties - I promise.  I am still here, happy and functioning reasonably well.  Along my journey I have met some incredible people, and I have pushed my own limits.  As a pioneer for some treatments, I have contributed to the body of knowledge in treating Head and Neck Cancer.  I have l discovered that there is virtually no end to what a person can overcome with loving support, hope and a positive mind.  For all these things, I am truly grateful.  The biggest lesson I have learnt is that while I can’t always prevent or change adversity or bad things that come my way,   I alone make the choice about how to respond to it.  This is a very empowering insight to me, and I hope to share more of how it works in the future.

Upon reflection, this really is what my blog is about:  it is the story of how I have twice grappled with Head and Neck Cancer and the side effects of the treatment  - so fellow travelers on this road can know what experiences may come their way.  And his is also where I share the lessons I have learnt to overcome adversity.

Two points I want to make because they were omitted from earlier posts:  I first had cancer in the early 2000s.  At the time many protocols like removing teeth before radio therapy, peg placement for swallowing, swallowing treatment (TENS machine electronic stimulation) and others, were not yet common practice.  Some of my experiences are a bit outdated in terms of treatment now.  I will adjust my narrative accordingly.  Today, there is more of a willingness to embrace a multi-disciplinary team approach in treating Head and Neck Cancer.  The support group I attend is a shining example of this.  Research is now indicating that patients who benefit from such a team approach recover faster, have a better chance of long term survival, and seem to get back to ‘normal’ life a lot quicker that those who do not benefit from the multidisciplinary team treatment approach.  My support group give credit to pioneer patients for having contributed to the wisdom of such an approach,  and I am grateful to see how much better patients are dealing with the journey now.

The second point is potentially great news for sufferers of dry mouth.  My one saliva gland spontaneously revived itself about three years after being ‘zapped’ by radio therapy.  This means no more dry mouth or xerostoma.  This I am told by medical experts is not a once-off occurrence, as saliva gland recovery is becoming more prevalent in the survivor community.  As I explained before, there seems to be two types of saliva glands, one type with thick or viscose saliva, and the other being a bit more watery and runny.  The gland that revived itself in my case is the more watery gland.  This is really great because I no longer wander around with a water bottle attached to my hand like and extra limb – although I drool a bit now and then, mostly when eating or drinking.  There are times when I do have a dry mouth, but that is more an external matter, when my mouth is open as in panting from a run, or when the dentist has a dam in my mouth to work on teeth. 

At the time that I got dry mouth, the best brand around was the Xerostom toothpaste, oral gel, and mouth rinse.  I still think these products are effective, and there seems to be a great deal more of them available now.  But this is perhaps a good time to share a tip that helped me when I had a very dry mouth.  I used few drops of olive oil in my mouth,  and in my bedside glass of water at night.  The olive oil lubricated my mucosa and I got used to the taste.  My mouth was reasonably comfortable when I woke up in the mornings, and the olive oil prevented that totally parched and encrusted inside of the mouth feeling.  When I woke up at night needing a drink, I had some of the water with olive oil.  I shared this advice with a friend, who having tried it, says he now swigs olive oil directly before going to bed, swirling it around in his mouth and even swallowing some of it.  This apparently worked very well for him.  It seems that the olive oil also contributes to soothing inflamed mucosa.  

As I am not a doctor, I cannot recommend this as a cure, but I can say that olive oil has helped me manage dry mouth at night, and others I know concur.

It is great to be back at blogging  I have missed you.  The folks out there who react to my posts add interest to my life.  Thank you for reading my blog and tweets. Watch this space for a new post in the next week.