Hi everybody,

My mom finished her last radiation session on Friday so now its time for her to start on the long road to recovery. She is not going to be very patient with this. I told her that for every week of radiation it takes at least a month to get back to somewhat normal and she really didn't like that at all....but she doesn't complain. The only thing that is really bugging her is the mucusy saliva that she is constantly choking on. It is making her sick so that she ends up throwing up. Shes barely getting her Boost Plus down at this point so the throwing up is not helping her. Is there really nothing she can do but wait for it to go away. Any suggestions would be helpful. People have mentioned a steroid? If so what is it called? Or do you just recommend that she wait it out?

Thank you,
Danielle

Hi Danielle,
My doctors had me take a cough syrup every day to control the thick stuff. It did help some. It was Guaffinisan (sp??). It also helped to drink a ton of water and to sleep with my head propped up. In time it will resolve.
Glad to hear that your mom is done..........pretty soon she'll be offering advice to everyone else on here!
Minnie

Danielle...

Keeping her head elevated should help. I think I mentioned that I slept in my recliner. That really helped alot. I also took a cough medicine. I took Robitussen, the expectorant formula.

I finished treatment a little over a week ago and the saliva is reduced to a few times a day rather than gagging and choking every hour or so.

I had the same problems where I was coughing so bad I'd lose food in the mornings. So before I got up I changed the routine to allow a coughing session.

First I'd clear my mouth as best possible using tissues, kept the cool air humidifier on & played my video game while resting @ an incline. Strangely the video games Columns & Tetris kept me focused on something else entirely that I relaxed enough to keep from that gaggy hard cough from happening. Once I felt ready & cough free I'd eat...er, inject my Osmolite breakfast. Hope this helps, good-luck!

Thank you for all the suggestions. She is having a difficult time with all of this mostly because like everybody says the process of healing is very, very slow. She would hope to see a little progress everyday but that just isn't happening yet. Its been a week today since her final treatment and she still hardly has a voice and the mucus has not subsided at all. She is still using a couple pain patches and is barely getting 1 or 2 cans of Boost Plus down a day down. Needless to say she has dropped quite a bit of weight. But she is strong going on walks on the beach daily and trying to get somewhat back to her normal life. She hasn't come to my house yet because like Karen and Gary said she probably wouldn't feel up to it yet. The last week of radiation was the most damaging as far as setting her back. She was pretty good until that last week.

I will keep you all posted on her progress and have her post something when she comes to my house next week. Thanks again for all your support getting her through this extremely difficult process!
Danielle

Danielle,
My last week of radiation was also the worst. I had a reaction to the medicine they gave me for the nausea. Tell her to hang in there, it WILL get better!

Minnie,

She says she feels like she is dieing and I swear she thinks she will not get better. I think this is the depression that you all talked about. I wish she could talk to somebody who has been through it to let her know that it does get better. I keep telling her what everbody says but coming from me a perfectly healthy person it doesn't mean much right now. My sister and I just keep telling her to hang in there but we are not the ones who have gone through everything that you all have. I feel so bad for her. I just want my mom back to somewhat normal so we can get on with our lives......

Hey Danielle,
My hubby was not able to take in half the BoostPlus they put him on, so we talked to the Nutritionist and found out there are many different kinds of nutrients to use that have many more calories a can...Dan is on Nutren 2.0 which has 500 calories a can...check and see if there is a change she could make there to take in less liquid but also take in more calories at the same time. It has helped Dan alot. He received two extra weeks of radiation which that alone almost killed him. He had his last rad on Monday and has had a very hard week. We were told he might feel a little worse before starting to feel any better, and that is exactly how it has been this week. Looking forward to also feeling better soon in the future. Dan hasn't been able to talk for a month now so it gets pretty lonely!!

Hang in there...make sure you have a great support system and your mom also. God gives me strength just about the time I think I cannot bear to see my husband suffer anymore.

Take care,
Debbie

Debbie,

I will definately pass the advice on about the other high calorie drinks. You'll have to keep me posted on Dan's progress from the radiation since they finished up right around the same time. I think my mom(Barbara)is dealing with the same thing (it getting worse before it gets better.) Thats probably one of the most frustrating parts. You'd think once it was over there would at least be a little progress daily. It almost seems like her voice gets more hoarse by the day and since she has no PEG tube everything she eats she has to swallow which isn't the easiest thing if you take a look in her mouth.

She is very close with the priest at her church (my grandfather was the priest there before he passed away)and it helps her a lot to talk to her a few times a week. I can't imagine how it would be if she couldn't talk at all. When she got her first surgery last April she had a traik for about 5 days and it made her crazy that she couldn't talk then.

I'm sure things will start looking better in the next few weeks and we can share stories then. Right now is just a very difficult time....

Danielle