Hi --

My father just completed 35 sessions of radiotherapy and 3 sessions of chemotherapy on Sep 11th. He is currently in his 2nd week of recovery and there's been a lot of mucus produced from his throat as well as fluids from his nose.

does this mean the throat pain will be gone soon?
he feels nauseous most of the time -- will this be gone soon too? how long does it usually take for these 2 side effects to be gone?


Thank you for your help and support

The "thick muscos" phase is experienced by perhaps 99% of us. While each of us can be different, this phase usually lasts a few weeks. I had to walk around with a small styrofoam cup hidden in my pocket to go anywhere. I would wake up often during the night with a mouth full and yes it made me gag often, enough sometimes to make me toss my cookies. Some have rented portable suction machines to keep my their bedside. When this phase ends then the dreaded "dry mouth" phase kicks in. More about that when you are ready.

The mucous hangs around for anywhere from 3 to 6 weeks after finishing radiation. Recovery from treatments can take months. For many of us we began to feel better around 3 weeks after finishing. His health will steadily improve for your father. Many of us felt pretty good around 4 months out. It can take up to 2 years for a full recovery. It can be a very long battle but your dad will get there. Keeping good nutrition and hydration will help him bounce back quicker. Daily 2500 calories and 48 oz of water is what he needs. Focusing on adding extra protein with some high protein whey powder to his drinks will help him heal.

Best wishes with his recovery!

I was very disappointed by my Dr's failure to tell me what to expect after treatment. First, that the two weeks AFTER treatment would be worse than during treatment and would be the worst. Second, that recovery would be very slow after that. Third, failing to give me a time line of the various side affects and how long, on average, it would take to get over each one.

I'm five weeks out of treatment and think the mucous got better in the third week. Lots of water helps thin it.

My sore throat got somewhat better after the first two weeks but it has plateaued and has been constant since then. Interestingly, pain killers have had no affect on it. Not Oxycodone, Oxycontin, Fentanyl or Morphine or combos thereof. I discontinued them all and the pain is the same.

Mucous is your body's way of dealing with inflammation. It will slowly get better. Drs are notorious for not telling you what you should know. They've never been through it so they have no idea how important forewarned is to a patient. My dr simply said to me this won't be as easy as recovering from surgery. He was right. You'll heal it just takes time.

My wife and I went thru my Tx without the benefit of this site so we relied totally on Moffitt for all our information. I was led to believe that I was having a worse reaction to my Tx than anyone else had ever had. My RO's nurse would constantly say to me "you poor thing, what are we going to do with you". I was never told anything about the thick stuff or that the weeks following rad were going to be horrible. Even the radiation tech's gave me a PARTY after my last session telling me the "worst is over". I couldn't stay long because I had to run to the nearest bathroom and throw up! I was also told that within a month post Tx all my saliva and taste would be back to normal.

That's just one reason why this site is so valuable. We speak from experience and in numbers.

David...since Bill and you had the same RO at Moffitt...do you think that they have since altered their approach and schpiel to patients undergoing treatment there?

We were very pleased with the RO's response to us while at Moffitt but followed his suggestion to have treatment at home so we did not have as much interaction with his team. I remember being so perplexed when you told this story several years ago since you had a very typical response/recovery to your treatments.

Deb

Apologies for hijacking the thread.

Not sure but Karen is still there and I make sure everyone I refer to Moffitt understands exactly what they may be in store for. I also make sure every brochure rack in that place has OCF literature.