Still getting mouth ulcers 3 months after finishing my treatment for base of tongue cancer

Hi. All perfectly normal. Foods to try milky cereal like ready Brek, add cream. Scrambled egg with cream cheese added to keep it soft. Poached eggs. Tinned rice pudding, semolina, macaroni cheese. Dunk biscuits in cheese. Supermarket trifles yoghurt and ice cream. Bananas. To avoid food sticking to your tongue take a tiny sip of a warm drink like tea with every mouthful of food to act as a proxy saliva  

Ulcers are often caused by something you ate that disagreed with your mouth so keep a food diary  

I could add that I had an RT ulcer along my tongue for months after treatment  

Lymphodema is really common and can be massaged away  I have a simple technique that worked for me  in my blog. Ask for a referral to your hospital’s lymphodema clinic at your next appointment 

Thankyou again Dani as always you are a fab help xx

Can I ask you please how long does it take to start actually tasting the food :) x

It varies 

Some people here have been lucky, tasting their food a few weeks after treatment end. Hazel never lost her taste at all throughout.. At 12 weeks food still had little taste  but I could tell you what I was eating by blowing air back up my throat while chewing.  I never had a foul taste at all.  I was quite happy with it all by six months and it improved for years after that. What was a bit disappointing is that in the early days the first mouthful would give me a joyous hit of flavour which then disappeared with the second..... That's quite common.

Thankyou Dani xx

You are always welcome....plod on you'll get there...hugs

Hi Susie,

in my case that was the case as well it takes time to get better but I can say that every week brought some little improvements.  I had to have liquid with food for a long time. 

The good news is that now nearly 6 years on I am fit and healthy - I still always make sure to have a drink available when eating. The saliva glands are much better now but I was on the sprays and gels for about a year. 

I also had lymphoedema around the neck and was given a self massage routine and exercises to help with that and eventually it worked. The frustrating thing is you have your treatment and hope that's it. The reality is your body has been through a lot and recovery takes time. 

Be strong and I wish you all the best with your recovery journey 

Martyn 

I struggled for the first 3 months with tasting anything but the taste does come back !  I went back to childhood and spaghetti hoops was the first thing I really coped with and tasted - they slip down.  I got savory taste buds back before sweet ones but everything back to normal now. 

you had the same treatment as me i had 30 sessions and 5 chemo was meant to be 6 but my kidney was starting to react to it..i unfortunately am numb from my bottom lip down and they are mentioning it could be nerve damage but they will know better when i get my scan and petscan..Ive bit my bottom lip so often bit like numbness after dental treatment except mine is day in day out..and then the lymphodema on top.im so looking forward to getting back to normality 

thank you so much for your response,i will have a look at Dani's blog and see her technique in dealing with the lymphoedema ,i think i will be getting sent to see a specialist but the registrar said it will prob be next year now because of Christmas etc..