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I went 40 years without getting a flu shot because I was terrified of needles. And I mean I would look away if someone was getting a shot on tv. Absolutely terr

I went 40 years without getting a flu shot because I was terrified of needles. And I mean I would look away if someone was getting a shot on tv. Absolutely terrified of needles. A little over a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I have had all my teeth removed, had a feeding tube (PEG) installed, chemo, liver biopsy, and more random horrible shit. I went from terrified of needles to getting more of them than I can count. You adjust.

red9350 7y ago
Why did you have your teeth removed?
- johnpowell 7y ago
  Mouth/neck cancer. 35 treatments of radiation. It has been a year and my gums are still destroyed. My teeth were not in the best shape going into this. But the risk was high that the radiation would kill my teeth and need to be removed anyway. The problem here is that I was going to be monumentally fucked from the radiation/chemo and they weren't sure my body could handle pulling teeth if they died. And dead teeth just sitting in there could cause osteonecrosis of the jaw. Essentially a dead jaw. Then they would have to remove my jaw and that would be insane. So I opted to just have all my teeth pulled in one shot and get dentures later. And it wasn't some random dentist looking to profit saying I needed to have them pulled. Two ear, neck and throat doctors, a oral surgeon, two oncologists, and a radiologists all agreed that it was essential.
  - AchieveLife 7y ago
    Wow, that's terrible. Wishing you the best in your recovery and life :)
ryanmercer 7y ago
My mother had thyroid cancer the better part of a decade ago, just the one dose of the radioactive iodine sabotaged her teeth to. Like you she didn't have the best of dental health as it was but she's been losing a few teeth a year since. My father died of cancer just before I turned 13 and he wasn't sick very long, over the course of a year or so he had a port installed, had a roughly horseshoe shaped and size scar on his scalp, had headgear bolted into his skull in multiple locations and the day we had to take him to the ER he had worked all day and by that night was effectively drowning in is own bodily fluids with his lungs mostly full of fluid at which point he went on a respirator, went unconscious and was taken off life support less than a week later. Cancer sucks man, I'm sorry you got dealt that hand.

red9350 7y ago

Why did you have your teeth removed?

johnpowell 7y ago
Mouth/neck cancer. 35 treatments of radiation. It has been a year and my gums are still destroyed. My teeth were not in the best shape going into this. But the risk was high that the radiation would kill my teeth and need to be removed anyway. The problem here is that I was going to be monumentally fucked from the radiation/chemo and they weren't sure my body could handle pulling teeth if they died. And dead teeth just sitting in there could cause osteonecrosis of the jaw. Essentially a dead jaw. Then they would have to remove my jaw and that would be insane. So I opted to just have all my teeth pulled in one shot and get dentures later. And it wasn't some random dentist looking to profit saying I needed to have them pulled. Two ear, neck and throat doctors, a oral surgeon, two oncologists, and a radiologists all agreed that it was essential.
- AchieveLife 7y ago
  Wow, that's terrible. Wishing you the best in your recovery and life :)

ryanmercer 7y ago

My mother had thyroid cancer the better part of a decade ago, just the one dose of the radioactive iodine sabotaged her teeth to. Like you she didn't have the best of dental health as it was but she's been losing a few teeth a year since. My father died of cancer just before I turned 13 and he wasn't sick very long, over the course of a year or so he had a port installed, had a roughly horseshoe shaped and size scar on his scalp, had headgear bolted into his skull in multiple locations and the day we had to take him to the ER he had worked all day and by that night was effectively drowning in is own bodily fluids with his lungs mostly full of fluid at which point he went on a respirator, went unconscious and was taken off life support less than a week later. Cancer sucks man, I'm sorry you got dealt that hand.