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Eye Twitching, Face Pain Was A Symptom Of Cancer Lurking In Woman's Head
Nicci Buford was enjoying good health, traveling and starting a new job, when she began experiencing strange symptoms whenever she ate.
In late 2017, she first noticed "horrible pain" when she put food in her mouth.
"If you eat something sour and it gives you that tingling feeling in the back of your jaw — it was like that, but then the pain would shoot across my face like a spider web," Buford, 52, tells TODAY.Com.
As an administrator for the Kansas City VA Medical Center, she works in healthcare and tried to figure out the cause. Perhaps it was trigeminal neuralgia, a chronic pain disorder that involves sudden and severe facial pain, she thought.
Buford saw a neurologist, but that didn't help. Next, she visited a dentist who said her back teeth were shifting and recommended extracting a back molar. That seemed to work and the mystery pain went away for a while. But it came back with a vengeance about a month later.
In early 2018, Buford was in the kitchen with her husband when he asked her to taste something he was cooking.
"I went to go taste it and he said he just saw my eyes roll back because the pain was so excruciating, I blacked out," Buford says, describing the ache traveling from the right side of her head all the way across to the left.
"I've had three children and my largest was 10 pounds, 14 ounces. I can tell you it was the worst thing I've ever felt in my entire life."
She remembers her husband saying, "Something is really wrong."
Constant eye twitchingBuford underwent a CT scan, followed by fine needle biopsies and an MRI, but the diagnosis was still unclear. Then, as she was visiting an ear, nose and throat surgeon, he noticed her right eye was twitching.
Buford says that eye had started twitching non-stop to the point she had blurred vision. It was accompanied by a headache that went from the back of her skull to the front. It was so painful that it was keeping her up at night.
"(The doctor) noticed it because he saw my face kind of wrenching in pain. He said he would need to do surgery now because the pain is not normal. It could be a sign of cancer," she recalls.
In April 2018, Buford was diagnosed with stage 4 adenoid cystic carcinoma, a rare form of cancer that usually develops in the salivary glands of the head and neck, according to the Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center.
Her eye was twitching because the cancer in her salivary gland had traveled up to the nerve controlling her eyelid.
Nicci Buford has undergone several surgeries on her face.Courtesy Nicci BufordApril is Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Month. It's a collective name for a disease that can start in the sinuses, nose, mouth, throat, voice box and the glands that make saliva, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Head and neck cancers account for almost 4% of all cancers in the U.S., the National Cancer Institute notes. Treatment can change the way a patient looks, talks, eats, chews, swallows or breathes, it adds.
Only about 1,200 people are diagnosed each year with adenoid cystic carcinoma, the type of cancer Buford had, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Doctors don't know what causes it or what the risk factors are, it adds.
'I felt disfigured'Buford had surgery to remove the cancer in May 2018 — one of many procedures she's had to endure since.
Doctors put a gold weight her right eyelid so that it would close because she no longer had that functionality. She also underwent radiation.
Buford shows the scars on her face.Courtesy Nicci BufordThe surgery changed Buford's face and speech.
"It got to the point where I didn't want to leave the house because I felt so disfigured," she says. "That first year-and-a-half, I really felt like giving up… (but) I'm a fighter and I'm going to continue to push on."
She later underwent a gracilis flap transfer — where a surgeon took a muscle out of her leg and placed it in her face — to recreate smile muscles and improve her speech.
Buford has more procedures coming up this summer and says most people don't understand the ramifications of what happens after the cancer.
She has occupational therapy every other day, takes 14 medications and has to eat differently. The food has to be soft and cut up into very small pieces. A meal that might have taken 30 minutes to eat before now may take her an hour-and-a-half to chew.
"I'm a fighter and I'm going to continue to push on," she says.Courtesy Nicci BufordThis type of cancer can metastasize to the lungs, so she regularly undergoes scans. She still has a lot of pain.
But Buford is grateful to help spread awareness about the disease with the Head and Neck Cancer Alliance, and is thankful for the support of her family, especially her husband.
"I'm so glad that the beautiful relationship we have is not just skin deep, because he's seen me at truly my worst, where literally my face was falling off. And he's right there," she says.
Symptoms of head and neck cancer:The warning signs depend on where the cancer starts. Here are some of the possible symptoms, according to the CDC:
Mouth: a white or red sore that doesn't heal on the gums, tongue or lining of the mouth; jaw swelling, unusual bleeding.
Back of the mouth: Trouble breathing or speaking, or chewing or swallowing food; persistent throat pain.
Sinuses and nasal cavity: Blocked sinuses that don't clear, nose bleeding, headaches, pain and swelling around the eyes, pain in the upper teeth.
Jerry Springer Dies Of Pancreatic Cancer At 79: These Are The Most Common Early Signs
Talk show host Jerry Springer has died at age 79 of pancreatic cancer, his family spokesperson confirmed to NBC News.
The 10-time Emmy winner died peacefully at his home in Chicago surrounded by family, the statement from his longtime friend Jean Galvin read. Springer went to law school, served in the U.S. Army Reserves and worked in politics and journalism, but he was most famous for his broadcasting career, which included programs such as "Jerry Springer," "Judge Jerry," "Springer on the Radio," the game show "Baggage" and the "Jerry Springer Podcast."
It's not clear exactly when Springer was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, but the statement explained that Springer suffered a "brief illness." It's "more common" for people with pancreatic cancer versus other types of cancers to pass relatively quickly, Dr. Suneel Kamath, pancreatic oncologist at Cleveland Clinic, tells TODAY.Com.
"Dirty Dancing" star Patrick Swayze died of pancreatic cancer in 2009, 22 months after he was diagnosed. "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in March 2019 and died in November 2020. "Harry Potter" actor Alan Rickman died of pancreatic cancer in 2016, just a few months after his diagnosis.
Swayze's widow, Lisa Niemi Swayze, offered condolences to Springer's family on the TODAY show on April 28. "It's just a dreadful disease to have to lose a loved one to," she said.
Each year, more than 50,000 people in the U.S. Die from pancreatic cancer, making it the fourth-leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S., per the National Cancer Institute. Pancreatic cancer has one of the lowest five-year survival rates of cancers in the U.S. At just 5% to 10%, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Here's what to know about pancreatic cancer.
Signs of pancreatic cancerPancreatic cancer is a tumor that forms in the cells of the pancreas, an organ that aids in digestion and sits behind the lower part of the stomach. In its early stages, pancreatic cancer usually does not cause symptoms, so it often goes undetected until later stages, when it starts to impact other digestive organs.
It can also be difficult to feel the tumor — like how one might feel a cancerous breast lump, for example — because the pancreas is so deep in the abdomen; what's more, pancreatic tumors don't usually show up on imaging tests, according to Cleveland Clinic.
Signs pancreatic cancer has spreadWhen symptoms do occur, it's usually a sign the cancer has spread, according to the American Cancer Society. Pancreatic cancer symptoms can be difficult to diagnose because they can be ignored or misattributed to other causes. About 80% of people don't know the signs of pancreatic cancer, TODAY.Com previously reported.
According to Cleveland, common pancreatic cancer symptoms include:
The above symptoms tend to occur in later stages of the disease, and there are "no tell-tale signs" of early pancreatic cancer, but some patients will develop "vague" symptoms up to a year before they get diagnosed, per Cleveland Clinic. For example, many patients have back or stomach pain leading up to their diagnosis. Early symptoms may come and go or get worse after meals or when lying down.
Kamath says he's also seen fatigue; sudden, rapid weight loss; and pain in the middle of the stomach under the breast bone in some patients with early pancreatic cancer, but not everyone gets these. If you notice any of these symptoms for four weeks or more, "it's probably not normal and should get checked out," he says.
"What happens a lot of times is people either think it's just acid reflux, that they ate something funny or they ascribe it to some other thing for a while," he adds. "They'll see their doctors and many of them will be started on acid reflux medicines or other things targeting general stomach issues. That's why I emphasize anything that goes on for ... Five, six weeks at a time isn't going to be your garden variety reflux, indigestion, constipation-related stuff."
He also stressed the importance of advocating for yourself if you think something's wrong because most doctors won't automatically think pancreatic cancer since it's still a relatively rare disease.
Trebek shared in a 2019 PSA that he wished he'd know the warning signs of pancreatic cancer sooner. "I wish I had known earlier that the persistent stomach pain I experienced prior to my diagnosis was a symptom of pancreatic cancer," he said.
Niemi Swayze recently told TODAY.Com that her husband's first symptom was jaundice, which the American Cancer Society says is common.
"He came to me and he said, 'Do my eyes look yellow?'" Niemi Swayze recalled. "He had some digestive problems — pain that wouldn't go away. But it was mostly the yellow eyes that sent us to the doctor. He said, 'Oh, we'll go in next week.' But I thought, 'Yellow eyes just doesn't sound normal. We need to go tomorrow.'"
Another pancreatic cancer patient, Elizabeth O'Connor, told TODAY.Com in 2021 that the first symptoms of pancreatic cancer that she felt were lack of appetite and unexplained weight loss. She later noticed her arm turning swollen and hot due to a blood clot. Doctors discovered the cyst on her ovary was pancreatic cancer.
Pancreatic cancer survival ratePancreatic cancer has one of the lower survival rates of cancers in the U.S., although it's improved over the years, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. Once again, that's because the disease is most often diagnosed in later stages when it's already spread in the body.
About 80% of pancreatic cancer patients are diagnosed after the disease has already spread, usually stage 4, TODAY.Com previously reported. About 1% of patients diagnosed at stage 4 survive five or more years; on average, they live about one year, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.
For patients diagnosed when the cancer hasn't spread outside the pancreas, the five-year survival rate is around 44%, according to the American Cancer Society. When it's spread to parts of the body near the pancreas by diagnosis, it's about 15%. When it's spread beyond that at diagnosis, for example to the lungs or liver, the survival rate of pancreatic cancer is 3%.
Kamath explains that "a number of factors" make it more deadly than other types of cancers. Some of the newer therapies being developed, such as immunotherapy, don't work as well on the tumors, and there's not as much funding to help researchers understand the underlying mechanisms of pancreatic cancer, he says. It's also a challenging cancer to remove surgically due to its location in the body and its ability to spread more easily than other cancer types.
Pancreatic cancer causesAccording to Cleveland Clinic, it's not clear what causes pancreatic cancer, but there are some risk factors that researchers have been able to point to. However, there isn't an especially strong association between pancreatic cancer and any of these factors, Kamath says.
Risk factors for pancreatic cancer include:
While it is possible to cure pancreatic cancer, it's not common, Kamath says. Most of the cases of pancreatic cancer being cured are in the early stages, with about 56% of these people surviving beyond five years, according to the American Cancer Society.
Survival rates of pancreatic cancer have improved in recent years but the progress is slower than with other disease, Kamath adds.
Woman's Eye Twitching, Mystery Symptoms Lead To Frightening Diagnosis
Nicci Buford was enjoying good health, traveling and starting a new job, when she began experiencing strange symptoms whenever she ate.
In late 2017, she first noticed "horrible pain" when she put food in her mouth.
"If you eat something sour and it gives you that tingling feeling in the back of your jaw — it was like that, but then the pain would shoot across my face like a spider web," Buford, 52, tells TODAY.Com.
As an administrator for the Kansas City VA Medical Center, she works in healthcare and tried to figure out the cause. Perhaps it was trigeminal neuralgia, a chronic pain disorder that involves sudden and severe facial pain, she thought.
Buford saw a neurologist, but that didn't help. Next, she visited a dentist who said her back teeth were shifting and recommended extracting a back molar. That seemed to work and the mystery pain went away for a while. But it came back with a vengeance about a month later.
In early 2018, Buford was in the kitchen with her husband when he asked her to taste something he was cooking.
"I went to go taste it and he said he just saw my eyes roll back because the pain was so excruciating, I blacked out," Buford says, describing the ache traveling from the right side of her head all the way across to the left.
"I've had three children and my largest was 10 pounds, 14 ounces. I can tell you it was the worst thing I've ever felt in my entire life."
She remembers her husband saying, "Something is really wrong."
Constant eye twitchingBuford underwent a CT scan, followed by fine needle biopsies and an MRI, but the diagnosis was still unclear. Then, as she was visiting an ear, nose and throat surgeon, he noticed her right eye was twitching.
Buford says that eye had started twitching non-stop to the point she had blurred vision. It was accompanied by a headache that went from the back of her skull to the front. It was so painful that it was keeping her up at night.
"(The doctor) noticed it because he saw my face kind of wrenching in pain. He said he would need to do surgery now because the pain is not normal. It could be a sign of cancer," she recalls.
In April 2018, Buford was diagnosed with stage 4 adenoid cystic carcinoma, a rare form of cancer that usually develops in the salivary glands of the head and neck, according to the Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center.
Her eye was twitching because the cancer in her salivary gland had traveled up to the nerve controlling her eyelid.
Nicci Buford (Courtesy Nicci Buford)
April is Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Month. It's a collective name for a disease that can start in the sinuses, nose, mouth, throat, voice box and the glands that make saliva, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Head and neck cancers account for almost 4% of all cancers in the U.S., the National Cancer Institute notes. Treatment can change the way a patient looks, talks, eats, chews, swallows or breathes, it adds.
Only about 1,200 people are diagnosed each year with adenoid cystic carcinoma, the type of cancer Buford had, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Doctors don't know what causes it or what the risk factors are, it adds.
'I felt disfigured'Buford had surgery to remove the cancer in May 2018 — one of many procedures she's had to endure since.
Doctors put a gold weight her right eyelid so that it would close because she no longer had that functionality. She also underwent radiation.
Nicci Buford (Courtesy Nicci Buford)
The surgery changed Buford's face and speech.
"It got to the point where I didn't want to leave the house because I felt so disfigured," she says. "That first year-and-a-half, I really felt like giving up… (but) I'm a fighter and I'm going to continue to push on."
She later underwent a gracilis flap transfer — where a surgeon took a muscle out of her leg and placed it in her face — to recreate smile muscles and improve her speech.
Buford has more procedures coming up this summer and says most people don't understand the ramifications of what happens after the cancer.
She has occupational therapy every other day, takes 14 medications and has to eat differently. The food has to be soft and cut up into very small pieces. A meal that might have taken 30 minutes to eat before now may take her an hour-and-a-half to chew.
Nicci Buford (Courtesy Nicci Buford)
This type of cancer can metastasize to the lungs, so she regularly undergoes scans. She still has a lot of pain.
But Buford is grateful to help spread awareness about the disease with the Head and Neck Cancer Alliance, and is thankful for the support of her family, especially her husband.
"I'm so glad that the beautiful relationship we have is not just skin deep, because he's seen me at truly my worst, where literally my face was falling off. And he's right there," she says.
Symptoms of head and neck cancer:The warning signs depend on where the cancer starts. Here are some of the possible symptoms, according to the CDC:
Mouth: a white or red sore that doesn't heal on the gums, tongue or lining of the mouth; jaw swelling, unusual bleeding.
Back of the mouth: Trouble breathing or speaking, or chewing or swallowing food; persistent throat pain.
Sinuses and nasal cavity: Blocked sinuses that don't clear, nose bleeding, headaches, pain and swelling around the eyes, pain in the upper teeth.
This article was originally published on TODAY.Com
Originally published April 27, 2023 at 12:09 PM
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