It’s been about 3 years since my RT ended now. last post I mentioned a little patch of osteoradionecrosis on the inside of my jaw.
A quick google gives the following definition-.....
Osteoradionecrosis is bone death due to radiation. The bone dies because radiation damages its blood vessels.
Osteoradionecrosis is a rare side effect that develops some time after radiation therapy has ended. It usually occurs in the lower jaw, or mandible. The lower jaw is at risk of osteoradionecrosis because it has a limited blood supply. Very rarely, osteoradionecrosis can start in the upper jaw, or maxilla.
My patch grew to about 2cm, and was rather unpleasant as food got stuck around it and it smelt when you touched it. It did become infected from time to time and I could always tell when it was happening because it would feel more swollen, the outside would become reder and it would have a strange cold/hot feeling to it. Sometimes you would see a swelling in my mouth.
My oncologist and consultant have prescribed various antibiotics along the way ( clydomcin- my arch enemy) and other less vicious types. Over the summer the oncologist asked the dr to give me a repeat prescription for doxycycline and I took it 3 times when I had a flare up.
She then suggested that this was too often and we hit it with 2 months of Augmentin. Mid way through this the bit of exposed jaw broke away leaving a gap in the gum. It’s been looked at and apparently looks quite clean at the moment so fingers crossed it might start to heal over.
Eating wise, aside from the near choking episodes which happen because of the reduced saliva when eating, I can pretty much eat most of the things I could eat before. I have far less salt than I ever used to, and I always need there to be water available.
I’ll keep posting every now and again- or when something significant happens.
