Hi Margaret,

When I was finally done, I came home & slept for almost a month. I would get up just for a few hours a day, then back to bed. My husband was real worried during that time. Slowly my days would improve I would be up longer and longer.

I started really seeing a difference around 3 & 4 months. I could start eating a few small things. I also had thrush start a few times which can make your life miserable!! So keep eye out for that and get meds to have on hand for it. You can get from Dr. or Dentist.

Happy for your husband that you are almost done!! It is a great feeling,

Take care
Diane

Margaret,

Yes it is a relief not to have to make that daily commute but at the same time I felt medically alone since I was not able to have direct daily access to any of my docs. I even had to go to the ER appx 2 weeks after my Tx ended which I may have avoided if I was being seen every day. Besides I was just to darn miserable to feel any relief about anything for the 2 to 3 weeks post Tx.

Hi Margaret,

David is 5 weeks post as of yesterday and he is still very tired. Pain is more manageable but he is still exhausted. The doctors told us 2-4 weeks the radiation continues to work and that is true because 2 weeks ago when we where in for follo-up the tumor on the Lymph node which has been our marker was still over 4 CM (started at 6.3 CM) this week they felt it was about 2.5 CM great change.

He has begun to eat some food a couple times....Soup and jello this week. They gave him "Kesslers Cocktail which numbed his throat and allowed him to get past the pain to eat. He is awake more than 2 weeks ago.

Up and Down it is...Wednesday was great day he was up we went for very short walk. He had success with soup. But Thursday he was so exhausted. Yesterday a little better but today not feeling very good.

I am actually taking a break from cleaning to look up Thrush and mouth infections here. He has a huge patch today on roof of his mouth that looks like a scabby area almost..and appears to be pussy almost hard to tell with the mucus.

Don't be discouraged.. Everyday really is another day. Small improvements and progress is seen everyday in his face and attitude...Even when he is sleeping and how much better his sleep is.

May he have a great day and you also!!!!

I make sure I use my miracle mouthwash "religiously" and I only have had one little spot of thrush.

If you look up depression in the dictionary you will see my picture.

They put me on ativan last week and it did a 180 turnaround on my depression. They changed it to zoloft today. I too have read about this 2-3 week wait to kick in period, but my reaction was immediate.I take 2 pills at 8 hour intervals and can take 1 more every three hours if needed.

It relaxes me to point of elation...(almost)
and I sleep much better now. Now I "wake up" instead of being awoken by pain, and negative thoughts.

Ask the doctor to try it,it may work for you as well.
Petey

Dan can't tolerate the miracle mouthwash. I wish he'd use it. But, have given up that hope.

He's still struggling with depression at times, but overall he's doing better. He just finished treatment yesterday.

Petey, I'm glad you are doing well with the zoloft. I didn't think that worked so quickly, so good to know that there are exceptions. And, I'm happy it is working so well for you!

Margaret,
if he tries the magic mouthwash again make sure that he doesn't swallow it. It should be used as a "swish & spit". If it gets swallowed it numbs the gag reflex, which prevents aspiration into the lungs, and that is a very bad thing.

Regarding miracle vs. magic mouthwash

I believe they are different, and are made up to certain specifications.

One nurse said to spit out and one said to swallow.

When you swallow it allows it to get to bacteria in the throat.

But if it contains numbing agents it could be bad as Gary mentions. I have no clue, but I am fine when I swallow it. This pertains to the newest script given after radiation TX were dropped. Maybe they withdrew the numbing agent that prevents the gagging reflex from working.

Follow this link about it. My first script had all the "ingredients and amounts like a baking recipe" (exact amounts).

Please read this link below. Thanks for all the help and support.

http://www.medkb.com/uwe/Forum.aspx/pharmacy/1374/Question-regarding-miracle-mouthwash

"But, isn't there some benefit to not hauling your weary body to and from the hospital every day? It takes us anywhere from 3-4 hours to get to/fr the hospital and get treatment on a non-chemo day." Yes and no. I also had a 60 mile RT in heavy Bay Area traffic every day so it was about a 3 hour trip for me as well. I slept mostly and didn't miss that part of it.

Psychologically though, the end of Tx can be a lttle frightening. There is actually some comfort in fighting the battle proactively. It can be scary when you know that there are no more protons or ct actively killing the cancer.

I haven't heard of magic (or pink) mouthwash not containing numbing agents, typically they have liquid morphine and lidocaine with benedryl, Maloox or mannitol. These things are locally compounded so there are variations. Like Petey mentioned I also had conflicting advice from onco nurses. I would pop a couple of morphine tablets prior to eating or drinking and that worked pretty well for me, occasionally when it was particularky bad I used the swish & spit also.

Margaret -
I read your post and just want to give you a hug. The months from diagnosis to end of radiation were tough - but the months after the radiation treatments stopped were harder. I nearly lost Kenny twice -- once to surgical complications, the other to depression (suicide).

Kenny grew up thinking that men should hide their feelings and just 'work through it'. And the depression hit him like a ton of bricks.

Kenny is the most 'anti-drug' guy you would ever want to know. Hates even taking an aspirin.
But he now takes Effexor once a day and swears it saved his life.

I was the one that told the MO to prescribe Kenny anti-depressants. The first ones (Paxil) really did not work. After talking with our family doc, Kenny was switched to a different type of anti-depressant and it certainly helped.

I will echo what Gary states about ending treatments. At least by going to the RO we felt we were 'fighting' the cancer. We were doing something tangible to battle cancer.

Once we reached this point we both thought -- "ok, we made it". Boy were we wrong. Kenny was either sleeping of dealing with the terrible mucous problems post radiation. Actually the sleep helped him a lot. Think about it -- his body has to completely heal and re-build his throat. That takes rest and nutrition.

A final note -- keep yourself healthy (both mentally and physically). My depression wasn't something I was ready to deal with - but I learned that I had to keep going for Kenny. Make sure you take care of yourself!

Carol

Just wanted to add something; haven't posted (since I logged on maybe 3-4 weeks ago). My husband went back into the ER 2 wks post tx for almost a week (he was so weak/sick, never smoked, very light drinker). Strong, healthy guy b4 it started and it almost kicked his buttae (and he was SO depressed, just thought he could kick this somewhat easily). I didn't know what to do and everything I tried seemed like it made it worse. We are now 7 mths post and he is just seeing the light (and it is a huge difference even from last month). I also thank DavidCPA for being a little bit ahead of us in the treatment and letting me (us) know that things could even still get better at that point. I think we thought we were as good as we were going to get and that wasn't the case; it's important for people to know that the healing continues, on a different pace for everyone, but it can/does keep getting better. I give thanks to this website for showing/giving me (us)hope.

My thoughts and prayers are with you.