When I noticed my hallejuahs were getting somewhat raspy and the mucous worse, I did not worry. I cranked up the usual cures: water pik, seltzer water, extra humidity and steam in face with towel on head to no avail.
Starting Friday night it got so bad that I would choke and then have great difficulty breathing. By. Sunday night I was wheezing all the time despite having moved out to the couch to sleep at 90degree angle. My caregiver wife Bev's patience with my customary swimming in the existential River of Denial (my phrasing of the Nile is not just a river in Egypt) disappeared that night when I briefly turned purple and then struggled to breathe.
when I broke down and agreed to a Tuesday emergency ENT call, my ENT refused to see me but instead insisted I go to the emergency room but not my closest usual one, only the CCC one. After a Lombardi cancer center ENT scoped me, and I turned purple, My ENT had me admitted .. The tentative diagnosis is radiation induced CPOD (chronic pulmonary obstructive disease ) exacerbated by dysphasia (swallowing problem)

This is day 2 in hospital (my wife brought over iPad this morning as I did not expect emergency admission so packed nothing . ) Treatment is steroids, benadryl , prevacid, oxygen, Nebulizer and suction machine. Really has made a difference for the better.

Hope to be discharged once a Nebulizer and suction machine get delivered to my home since I can get prescrip steroids

Keep you posted
Charm