I haven't posted since my husband started his Chemo/Rad treatments. He has one more Chemo and 10 more radiation treatments to complete. He has had every response I've read about here - thick mucous,sores on his tongue and throat and now the neck burns. He has a 5 day rest from radiation due to this. They gave him Radiaplex Gel for this but when I put it on the raw places in the neck creases he about lost it. Evidentally it has alcohol in it thus the extreme pain.I am going to get some lidocaine spray prep and try that. Any more suggestions?
I am keeping it clean and pat it dry. I also make him take something for pain before we work with it.He has done so good with everything that is done to him and has shown such strength. He did not get a PEG and can drink water and the Ensure products and has lost about 25 pounds. Another question would be - where does all that thick mucous come from? It just keeps on coming and coming!

Towards the end of my radiation treatment I had weeping scabby acne like blisters. It was to the point that the nurses were asking if I had shingles and it was miserable to put my neck anywhere including the head holder on the radiation table or even my own pillow. Not only was it due to the radiation but the breakout of scabby scars and nasty blisters was due to the Iressa drug (far cry from "acne like symptoms")

What helped in my own case was Xeroform Petrolatum Dressing. The only way I found out about this was the nurses were soon putting it on me after the radiation treatments and wrapping my neck up with gauze. The nurses up in chemo would do the same thing when they saw me, just to allow me to be able to put my head back and rest on a pillow. When treatment ended and I was still dealing with the bad burn and blisters, a kind nurse told me how to get these dressings at a medical supply place down the road. We drove there and picked up rather cheaply about 15 of them... they are made by Tyco/Healthcare and they say "Kendall Xeroform Petrolatum Dressing 5 in x 9in" I can honestly say that they gave me such relief at the time, even though I remember having to take them off after a couple hours.

The nurse also suggested for even greater relief with the dressing, to store them in the refrigerator. I can vouch that there's no alcohol in them at all... they are slippery little yellow pads with fine mesh gauze, impregnated with 3% Xeroform (bismuth Tribomorphenate) in a petrolatum blend. Since they were kind of messy, we'd just sort of slide those onto my burned parts and then loosely wrap my neck up with bands of gauze just to hold it in place for awhile for it to do it's work.

As for the thick mucous. I can remember that was one of my worse side effects from treatment. Several people emailed me that sooner or later that phase would end (even though at the time, I didn't think I'd ever see the end of it) I have been keeping a daily journal and I think my bad mucous period ended almost three to four weeks after treatment ended.

If there is such a thing as a mucous fairy, she must be one horrible nasty looking little thing. Hmmmm... a "phlegm fairy" hmmmmm....

Jen

Definitely a bad fairy if she exists.

I'm interested in any answers anyone has to where all the mucous comes from. There certianly seems to be no end to it at times. At a full four weeks past radiation, I am FINALLY noticing a decrease in the phlegm (not that it has totally stopped at all, just that it's not constant 24-hr a day spitting it out all the time)

My radiation burn on my neck was never extremely painful although the entire burned area did get very inflamed right after the end of rad and I ended up in the hosptial with a fever from "cellulitis" on my neck ( also had a very low white blood cell count which may have contributed to the high fever). They gave me an excellent burn cream while I was there but I don't know if it would sting because I didn't really have open painful sores--at the point when I got it I just had very red inflamed skin that ended up peeling off after I used teh cream for a couple of days. If you want the name of the cream, i can try to dig it out and find it.

I got some lanacaine spray and after washing with Dove soap and gentle cleaning we applied that with only burning for a few seconds.It had some open ares that oozed but looks better today.I know I need to watch out for infection.

Yeah they sprayed some of that Lidocaine spray (they called it Cetacaine)in my mouth and my pain threshold went right through the roof - be careful. I still have a little yellow bottle of it complete with the stainless steel applicator.

The "pink magic" swish & spit stuff worked better for me.

Dove soap is great. I prepared myself for getting though radiation by buying two bars of it because it was listed in the radiation guide book they gave me. During all that oozing nasty mess, I can fondly remember the relief I got just getting some of that cleaned off of me in the shower. However, I must admit there were times I felt so ill from it all that I had to "talk" myself into getting into the shower. Yes, that sounds very silly looking back on it, but I was just shuffling back and forth to the bed and sometimes I knew that I needed a shower, but did I really want to expend all that energy taking one? One of my major talking points to myself to get into that shower was "ahhhh it's going to feel really GOOD once you get started" Then, of course, the shower felt so good, I'd have to talk myself into getting OUT of the shower.

Jen

Doctors told me the mucous is your body fighting like hell to heal the burns that the radiation has caused. Your nasal cavity gets a little bit burned too ( my tumor was at the base of the tongue) so there is some nasal secretions that get in there too. I just had to cough it up as often as possible. I got pretty good at getting the crap out in one ball after alot of practice. About that time it started getting better....

John is fighting the mucous monster also. It has gotten worse wth each treatment. His Rad doc. told him to gargle with warm water only and then spit. He is getting alot of relief by doing that. Amy

Dryfly
My Hubby`s neck was also badly burned. AFTER radiation treatments were finished what I did was . Sterilise a spray bottle, fill with half sterile water and half 3% peroxide, spray on , it will bubble and help remove the dead skin .then wipe off with sterile pads. Apply the Steriod ointment then apply the Petroleum dressing, refrigerated as Jen advised ,then wrap. My hubby would keep it on overnight and his Doc was really surprised at how well and quickly his neck healed.
Gelclair helped a little with the mouth sores but salt and Bicarb rinses were the best I believe .
Hope he feels better soon .
Marica

During the last weeks of Rad, my neck was pretty severely burned. I had what they referred to as a significant tissue breakdown. I called it raw exposed flesh. The nurses at U of C, havin had significant experience with this, provided a "wound dressing" called Vigilon. It was a blue gel like sheet that they would apply to the wound on top of the topical dressing which was silver sulfadiazine (or silvadine)cream. It almost immediatly offered some relief, and the burns healed in about 2 weeks. My roomate in the hospital also used it on the sores that developed in the skin folds in his neck, and it was very helpful to him also. we used to keep the Vigilon in the refrigerator. It would feel great when applied! Of course I could't use the Silvadine cream while in Rad treatment, because scrubbing it off before rads was just too painful, but on the week off between sessions, it was fantastic, and I'm sure it sped the healing after completion of rad treatment.
The home healthcare nurse who visited me twice a week at home eventually provided the Vigilon,but I had to get the first batch myself. I found a reliable supplier on-line. I can share that info with anyone who wants it. Just drop me an e-mail.
I hope this info helps someone.

Good Health

Chuck

Silvadine cream is what they gave me for my neck. It worked amazingly well. The nurses did tell me to be careful to only use it on spots that needed it because it has some ingredients in it that you really don't want to apply unecessarily to healthy skin.

I got some Silvadene today for his neck. They are holding off radiation this week and to resume next Monday. They assure us that it will heal faster than we think. He is weak and ran a fever one time so Doctor checked him today and all seems to indicate it is just the neck burns wearing him out. Maybe a better day tomorrow. Thanks for all the assistance.

I was surprised that they would prescribe something with alcohol in it...no wonder it hurt. My ma used Silvadene and it helped.

Just picked up another piece of info.from the above posts. John's blood pressure bottomed out last Sun. & Mon -every reading each day the systolic was below 105. He was weak, dizzy, slept alot. We started pumping Gatoraide into his peg. Went to our family doc today- he has a low grade fever and thrush- started him on amoxicillian and nystatin. Don't know what his Oncologist will say about that, but "hey", he is 3 hrs. away and I could not reach him over the 4th of July weekend.Really glad youall are here. Amy