Thanks to a long-time friend, ME in Columbia, I checked out this link at the MayoClinic.com site: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/salivary-gland-cancer/DS00708 . Before my episode with a parotid tumor in 2006, I never knew that salivary glands caught so much crud - some benign, some cancerous. Take a look at the Signs and Symptoms, and get yourself screened by your dentist or your primary care provider if you have ANY questions. Since mine was a (very) painful lump, some of the specialists I saw dismissed the cancer idea, saying that usually cancer was in the painless ones. Get ALL lumps, bumps, whatever, checked out. If you don't like the way the first caregiver checks you out, go to another one. But sometimes, it will take years to diagnose - nothing, especially the health care system in the world, is perfect. And don't figure you are out of the woods because you aren't a smoker or tobacco chewer - neither am I. There isn't any reason for Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma, or many other cancers, that they have found so far.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
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My husband was diagnosised and treated (surgery and radiation) for salivary gland cancer last fall. He is presently dealing with the side effects such as loss of hair where radiation rays exited, loss of nerve at corner of mouth (surgery)which affects eating and speech, and depression. The onocoligist said the hair may or may not come back while the surgeon said that it definitely won't come back. I haven't found out much about possibility of hair coming back - do you know of any information? My husband's last radiation treatment was January 30, 2008. The surgeon says it is too early to deal with the issues of his lip and the jaw (he can't chew some items without pain). Any info you may have about dealing with side effects is welcomed. His first CT was good. The surgeon wasn't as impressed as we were initially.
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