Written by Karen Sheffler, MS, CCC-SLP, BCS-S of www.SwallowStudy.com (revised April 25, 2017). Reposted on the NFOSD website with the author’s permission. See Karen’s Biography at the end of this article.
“How did I get tonsillar cancer? I don’t smoke or drink!”
Young people who do not smoke do NOT get cancer, right?
Wrong.
We need to have the talk — about sex and the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). continue reading →
People who receive treatment for head and neck cancer can have difficulty swallowing at different points in time of their cancer treatment. The causes of swallowing difficulty can be complex and related to multiple factors: tumor growth resulting in injury to normal tissue, surgery-induced damage to the oral and/or pharyngeal (throat) muscles, and/or excessive scarring from radiation.
[Editors note: THE DREADED “YOUR NEW NORM” is a two-part series written by Jim Rose. This is the second part of the series. Part 1 can be viewed by clicking here.]
As I became more physically fit I was sent to a physical therapist named Mike Vito. This young man was very adapt and thorough at his job. He pressed me to seek answers from my surgeon that he couldn’t find in my surgical reports. It turned out that the nerve that made my rotor cuff work had to be severed in order to place my pectoral muscle in my throat. With this knowledge Mike designed a lifelong exercise program that would help me regain use of my right arm.