Surviving the symptoms, diagnosis and treatment is just the beginning for patients with mouth cancer. With over 30,000 cases diagnosed a year, people who have cancer that affects the tissues of the mouth and throat know that living with oral cancer is the next step in the process and can be done with the right amount of knowledge and preparation.
Instructions
Get Continuing Care
1. Know that although mouth cancer is comparatively rare, there are certain risk factors that increase your chances of having to live with mouth cancer. Tobacco use is the most obvious, and increased age is a risk, as it is with most cancers. Another major risk factor is heavy alcohol consumption.
2. Continue check-ups and follow-up appointments with your physician or oncologist. Tests to see if the cancer was eliminated will be necessary after treatment and so will regularly scheduled appointments to make sure that the cancer has not reappeared.
3. Be prepared for different forms of therapy. Speech therapy may be necessary to help you to adjust to changes in your mouth or throat due to surgery. In addition, physical therapy can be used to assist with problems eating, swallowing or breathing.
Take Care of Your Personal Health to Live With Mouth Cancer
4. Maintain a healthy diet. Nutrition is one of the key elements to ensure a productive life after cancer, and eating habits that have been established during cancer treatment should be maintained if appropriate. Ask your doctor for nutrition recommendations or referral to a dietitian.
5. Check your mouth regularly for re-occurrence of symptoms, such as sores in the mouth that do not heal promptly, and report them to a doctor immediately.
6. Reduce your risk of a re-occurrence. Stop using tobacco or alcohol. Limit exposure to the sun if you've had cancer of the lips. Use a lip balm that contains sunscreen.
Maintain Your Mental Health to Live With Mouth Cancer
7. Join a support group for cancer survivors to assure you that you are not alone in your experience as a survivor of mouth cancer.
8. Keep a support system around you of friends or family, or try counseling or therapy to deal with the emotional side effects of cancer treatment and recovery.
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