It was great to see everyone again this week. Our guest speaker was a late scratching so we were left to our own devices, chatting and swapping stories and offering tips and advice.    After welcoming new members we touched on a regular but important topic; how to manage one of the most common side effects of head and neck radiotherapy treatment, the damage to salivary glands. Salivary gland damage (either temporary or permanent) can cause reduced saliva and dry mouth (xerost

This month we heard from physiotherapist Megan Howard, Peter Mac’s resident lymphoedema and fibrosis specialist. Many of us have heard from Megan before and save up our questions for her visits!   She told us that lymphoedema is the "abnormal accumulation of protein-rich fluid in the interstitium” which in plain language is too much fluid in the space between cells within our tissues. This causes swelling. Causes of lymphoedema include cancer treatment such as radiotherapy or

Welcome back everyone!  We hope you all enjoyed the holiday period (even though for most of us that feels like a distant memory...) At today’s meeting we heard from Shae Beaton, an Oral Health Therapist at Peter Mac, who spoke to the major long term side effects of radiotherapy treatment, specifically dry mouth, or xerostomia. Dry mouth is primarily caused by damage to the salivary glands which can result in not only a profound lack of saliva, but also a significant drop in t

It was great to see everyone again for the last catch up for 2025! No guest speaker for this week, just good chat, swapping stories and offering tips and advice. We started by welcoming new member Mick and then segued into possible upcoming public events where members can volunteer (shh, it’s a secret!). There was also some more on the wrap up of the HANCA Gala. We then spoke briefly about bone grafts and potential chronic issues at the graft donor site such as weakness and p

Our April meeting of the Victorian Head and Neck Cancer Support Group was a truly inspiring and informative gathering, with 23 members...

Our March meeting brought together 22 members, both online and in person, at the Peter Mac Wellbeing Centre. This month, we welcomed Katya from Peter Mac’s psychology team as our guest speaker. Her insights sparked an important conversation about the emotional and psychological impacts of head and neck cancer during treatment and well after.   Katya highlighted that the experience can be deeply traumatic, with reminders surfacing daily, around anniversaries, or during signifi

The Victorian Head and Neck Cancer Support Group held its first meeting of the year, bringing together 27 members -15 in person and 12...

At the October meeting of the Victorian Head and Neck Cancer Support Group, 20 members—15 in person and 5 online—came together for a...

At the September meeting of the Victorian Head and Neck Cancer Support Group, 21 members gathered, including four new faces. We had the...

Our July meeting was both insightful and informative, featuring a special guest, Marg, a dental oncologist from Peter Mac. Marg spoke...

We always knew that 90 minutes wouldn’t be enough time to spend with Peter Mac’s dieticians Kirsty and Isabel.  The impacts of eating,...

We were thrilled to be joined at our April meeting by Peter Mac’s Senior Clinician Physiotherapist – the wonderful Megan Howard!  Megan...

Welcome back everyone! We kicked off our first meeting for 2024 with a record-breaking attendance of 24 members – 9 online and 15 at the...

The long-term side effects of radiotherapy treatment lead many head and neck cancer patients to think about their teeth and oral hygiene...

It is always enlightening and a delight to be joined by Head and Neck Cancer Australia CEO Nadia Rosin. Nadia spoke to 18 of our members...

It was great to catch up with each other at our September meeting. We had 18 members including four new members and Jag the dog! With no...

It was lovely to see everyone at our August meeting. We had 19 members join, including four new members. This month we were also joined...

Our July support group meeting was a resounding success, with the addition of five new members – all with different head and neck cancers...

It’s always great to see so many familiar faces at the meetings and always great to share the ups, downs and everything in between. I...

We always know we are in for an informative session when we are joined by members of Peter Mac’s Nutrition and Speech Pathology...