Using CPAP with tongue cancer?

[RoboLobo]

Hi folks. I have been recently diagnosed with cancer of the base of the tongue, oh joy. Going to start radiation and chemo in about two weeks, woo hoo! You can sense my enthusiasm. Anyway, one aspect of radiation therapy to this area is that my mouth is gonna get pretty wrecked. Loss of swallowing ability, mucus, feeding tube through the stomach, lots and lots of pain of course. So I am wondering if anyone has firsthand knowledge or experience with this problem. I am wondering if pushing all that air down my throat is possible with all this pain. Or can I tape my mouth shut and breath only through my nose, would that make any difference? I am loving CPAP these days, my AHI is practically nothing. So I hate giving it up for any amount of time. Any sage advice out there? Thanks!

[chunkyfrog]

I am so sorry about what you are going through.
Your providers should know that the benefits of cpap will outweigh most negatives.
You should be able to continue using cpap--
just push for whatever you need to make it workable.
If necessary, push HARD.
I never stopped my cpap through chemo--and it helped with healing.
Hang in there--I am pulling for you!

[Julie]

I think you first need to talk to your MD or surgeon, etc who'd be familiar with the physical situation and see what they think... it's not that likely that someone online now will relate to specifics of your problems. Maybe the MDs can refer you to others in similar situations to talk to... Would like to help and not pushing you off, but it's a pretty particular business and people here are unlikely to have much info on it now.