Chetan,
Ok, here we go:
nausea: no problems with that They gave me Zofran IV after steroids, and my body did not like that. I know why it was done, but gosh, motility from the steroids and then "zap" everything stopped. I got so I took senokot-s 3 of 'em before chemo started. Sorta helped. Talk about a sensitive system, I guess that's me.

tongue blisters: no blisters but some sores (mucositis). I only used baking soda. I'd keep it in my mouth until they were less sore. I was probably only able to do that because I did have quite a bit of saliva through most of radiation. At the end of treatment I essentially lost saliva, my mouth was at best, "moist". I am 4 months out and am regaining it somewhat, so that I can eat most anything I want. Interestingly I was on the MD Anderson website yesterday & noticed that they had been awarded money to try out accupuncture on patients on head & neck patients while they are in treatment. Not everyone gets it, however. The oncology dentist told me that she had seen success with accupuncture. I don't know how much. If I thought it was more than I am going to get anyway, I'd look into it for certain. But since I had saliva until the last few days, have more now, and know that my parotids were spared, I feel fairly hopeful that I'm going to get it back.

mucositis: covered above, but special note--just recently I had the start of "hairy tongue" result of overgrowth of bacteria, and started cleaning my tongue more carefully--gosh I thought I did a good job. Anyway, I irritated one of the sores that I thought was gone on top of the tongue; not horrible, but . . . So using baking soda again, and it makes it better--it changes the Ph. The point is you can get some of those sores back again during the early weeks/months. My doc said it happens and does not mean you are regressing.

thick stuff: never had it in my mouth I had it at the back of my nose, going down my throat, sitting on my larynx, but it is getting better, or at least I don't always have it.

dry mouth: covered it under tongue blisters

Hey, you are approaching the end. It will happen! I totally agree with David on the weeks following treatment, especially for me the first 10 days. That's when I needed Carnation! Very sore mouth, etc.
That's when my neck was at its worst. If you live by yourself, have someone check in with you during that time. BUT, you'll be done, and it will improve, so keep that in mind.

Best,
Anne

Last edited by AnneO; 07-16-2011 02:14 PM.

SCC tongue 9/2010, excised w/clear margins:8 X 4 mm, 1 mm deep
Neck Met, 10/2010, 1 cm lymph node; 12/21/'10: Neck Diss 30 nodes, 29 clear, micro ECE node, part tongue gloss, no residual scc
IMRT & 6 cisplatin 1/20/11-2/28/11 at MDA
GIST tumor sarcoma, removed 9/2011, no chemo needed
Clear on both counts as of Fall, 2021