Speech after chemoradiotherapy.

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Morning all,

This may be a very stupid question but it's been playing on my mind so I thought I'd put it out there. 

I've read on a lot of your profiles and blogs about not being able to swallow, no saliva, very sore mouth etc. Am I safe to assume that there is likely to be a prolonged period where speech is going to be very difficult/impossible?

Thank you.

John 

  • Am I safe to assume that there is likely to be a prolonged period where speech is going to be very difficult/impossible?

    Never for me. I might have felt like sh1t for a while but there was never a time I couldn’t speak and fairly well. Morphine is great stuff. 
    Swallowing is a different matter. Different muscles. 

    Dani 

    Base of tongue cancer. T2N0M0 6 weeks Radiotherapy finished January 2019

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  • Hi John

    Yes...I ended up in hospital for 12 days just as chemoradio finished, speaking was an effort, eased a little after discharge but for another couple of weeks it became difficult to make myself understood, got fed up by people asking me to repeat myself...CNS had warned me that this might happen, advised keeping a notebook and pencil handy for communicating....OK now 20 months post treatment.

    Peter

  • Hi John, it's not a stupid question. You are right to assume that your speech might be affected, I totally lost my voice, for a good few weeks, it did come back slowly, although at first, I would gag after saying a few words. It did return fully with no change to it eventually.

  • Thanks Dani. I guess it is like the rest of it really and a bit luck of the draw. 

    J

  • Thanks Peter. Good to know. It's funny the things that play on our minds. What is a big deal to one person isn't important at all to someone else.

    Thanks for the top tips.

    John

  • Thank you. I am just trying to prepare myself best I can for this.

    Thanks.

    John 

  • Hi John, 

    Never a stupid question here. I am coming up 7 months post treatment. My voice became very hoarse 2 weeks after treatment had finished. My voice is slowly recovering, still very hoarse in the mornings and also when I get tired. 
    Everyone, that doesn’t know my situation, thinks I have a bad cold, so I go along with that. I’ve got used to the huskiness and quite like it haha. 

  • Ah thank you for that. I'll learn some Rod Stewart numbers in prep for a karakoe much further down the recovery line. J

  • I have always been able to speak.  I do find my voice changes occasionally then returns to normal, but never to a state where I can't speak.

    Peter
    See my profile for more details of my convoluted journey
  • Hi I never lost voice I can’t sing anymore but I couldn’t before as my hubby says. If i talk a lot I find my mouth is dry. But that’s soon remedied in daytime by a warm drink.

    Hazel 

    Hazel aka RadioactiveRaz 

    My blog is www.radioactiveraz.wordpress.com  HPV 16+ tonsil cancer Now  6 years  post treatment. 35 radiotherapy 2 chemo T2N2NM.Happily getting on with living always happy to help

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