Self Care

Learn about your treatment and any side effects. Watch for side effects so that you can get help dealing with them. Keep in mind the following:

About pain

• No pain should go ignored.
• Tell your doctor about pain soon, before it gets worse.
• Tell your doctor if the pain medication is helping or not.

Nutrition

• Maintaining a balanced diet with sufficient calories can be difficult because of the side effects of radiation or chemotherapy.
• Try to make the most of the times when your appetite is good. Many people find that morning is best. When you do not feel like eating a meal, try apple or grape juice, weak teas, clear broths, dry toast, cooked cereal, or gelatin desserts. Avoid citrus juices and lemonade.
• Try frequent, small portions of meal supplements, such as Ensure, to get extra calories and protein.
• High-fiber foods, such as fruits, vegetables and whole grain products, while generally recommended, may aggravate diarrhea, bloating and other digestive symptoms while on chemotherapy.
• Good oral care is important. If your mouth is dry, try sucking on ice chips.

Professional, individualized counseling from a licensed nutritionist is important in planning and maintaining a diet during cancer treatment. A good nutrition program can help control weight loss and improve results by helping you get through chemotherapy.

Tiredness

• Slowly increase your exercise to have more energy. Try walking as your energy allows.
• Take it easy when you're very tired. Take short naps during the day, but avoid long ones that may keep you from sleeping well at night.

Speech

• After surgery for some cancers, you may not be able to speak. Talk to your doctor about restoring your speech. Depending on the type of cancer, you may have several options.
• A speech therapist can help teach you to talk again after surgery.

Dealing with emotions

• If you feeling badly about your appearance after surgery, talk to your doctor about plastic surgery to give you a more normal look.
• Talk with your family and friends. It can be very helpful to have the support of other people, including those who may have had similar feelings or experiences. Consider meeting with a counselor or joining a support group.

Protection from infection

• Ask your doctor whether your chemotherapy will put you at risk for infection.
• If you are in the hospital receiving chemotherapy, the staff may need to wear masks and gowns to protect you from infection when your white blood cell counts are low.
• Remember to wash your hands frequently and thoroughly.
• You may need to avoid uncooked foods when your white blood count is low.

Follow-up

• It's very important to keep your follow-up appointment even after you are finished with treatment. People with head and neck cancers are often at an increased risk of having cancer come back or developing new cancer.

More on Cancers of Head and Neck

In the Encyclopedia:

This article was reviewed and updated June 2007.