My mother has tongue cancer and gone for operation in Rajiv Gandhi in the month of Sept, 2013 and after the operation biospy report said that 0.1 mm is left. She went for radition for 6 week till December 16, 2013 and she is on the liquid diet. On March 5, 2014, she is again admitted to Rajiv Gandhi due to protein, postassium less in the body and dr told us for 2 unit of blood. She is going for PET scan today and she is not eating anything from the mouth, how much time it will take to come back taste buds. She is 78 and becoming weaker and weaker day by day. Pl. advise
Hi. I think the issue is not with taste buds. In fact, after radiotherapy there develops a phenomenon we called Radiation induced mucositis (RIM). There is inflammation of mucosa of mouth and throat along with destruction of salivary glands that produce watering in mouth. This results in extreme Chat Doctor.  There can also be ulcers in mouth. Unfortunately, RIM take long time to settle and