Specialists

During my treatment I had a lot of different specialists. Here are their titles and a brief description of their roles in my treatment.

 

• Ear, Nose, and Throat Doctor- Also known as an ENT. As the name suggests, an ENT looks at your ears, nose, and throat in addition to your mouth and tongue. My first ENT did my in office tongue biopsy and then referred me to my next ENT that was also my surgeon. My ENT used a endoscopic camera placed up through my nose to view inside of my nose and down the back of my throat. It burned and felt weird but it was tolerable. As a speech language pathologist, I have volunteered to be scoped many times during my externships as practice for other clinicians learning how to do endoscopic swallow studies. During every appointment he shines a bright light in my mouth to look for any changes and uses his hands to feel the tissue in my mouth and my tongue. He even feels the base of my tongue which always makes me gag. After my surgery, this is the doctor that I saw the most often. I had an appointment every 6-8 weeks for the first 2 years post-surgery. Now the appointments are a little more spread out. We closely monitored any changes in my mouth and throat and biopsied anything that looked suspicious. Oral cancer is aggressive and grows quickly so I felt at ease knowing that someone was monitoring me closely.
• Oncologist- This doctor specializes in evaluating and treating people with cancer. My oncologist was in charge of my Erbitux infusions and checked in with me to monitor any symptoms. She prescribed medications to help with the side effects of the treatments and I still check in with her periodically after I have CT scans and just general updates on my health. I was part of a research study using Erbitux with Oral Cancer patients. This treatment was previously only used with Colon Cancer patients.
• Radiation Oncologist- This is a doctor that treats cancer with radiation. My radiation oncologist monitored my radiation treatments and any scans that I got.
• Pain Management Specialist- This is a doctor that specializes in the evaluation and treatment of acute and chronic pain. My doctor worked with me to find pain management options in forms other than pills since I couldn’t swallow them. This included liquid and patch pain medications.
• Dietitian- This is an expert on diet and nutrition. This is who helped me order the items I needed for my Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastronomy (PEG) tube. She told me how many cans I should be eating per day and set me up with the gravity feeding bags. I struggled to tolerate some of the can formulas so she helped me find one that I could tolerate.
• Speech Language Pathologist- Expert in communication and swallowing therapy. Even though I am an SLP, I still needed an SLP to work with and brainstorm with about various treatment ideas. She also helped to conduct my swallow evaluations.
• Physical Therapist- Expert in diagnosing and treating individuals who have medical problems that limit their abilities to move and perform functional activities in their daily lives. My PT helped me with lymphatic drainage, range of motion in my neck, and with fibrosis of the radiated muscles in my head and neck.
• Massage Therapist- A person who practices therapeutic massage. My Physical Therapist did some massage therapy but I also continue to see a massage therapist to help with pain management of my head, neck, and shoulders.
• Dental Oncologist- This person specializes in dentistry focusing on dental and oral manifestations of chemotherapy, radiation, and/or head and neck surgery. This was one of the first people I visited after my ENT scheduled my surgery. If I needed any dental work done it needed to be completed before treatment began. This Dentist scared me to death with a picture of what could happen to my teeth if I didn’t take care of them since radiation can cause a lot of dental issues. This specialist can also help with prosthetics if you need any after surgery.