Phlegm - a better term than mucous since that gets patients confused with mucositis which includes mouth sores -
Still Phlegm has been and remains the bane of my cancer TX. After two years of fighting it, the only thing that has consistently worked for me is plain old Seltzer water - the carbonation acts like little scrubbing bubbles to help lift the sticky stuff into spitable form. The big bottles in the stores do not work as once opened they lose the all important fizz.
I routinely empty my local Safeway of their little metal can six packs of their generic Seltzer. Just pop open the tab and rinse, then if possible gargle and spit. Not a miracle cure but it does clear out the majority of my phelgm
This second time around, the phlegm was so bad, and so prevalent that the home suction machine (covered by insurance) worked if I put the tube down my throat to the point of the gag reflex and around the gums. I am finally going to return it this month as now I can control it with seltzer. I did sleep sitting straight up with pillows from March to July but have gradually progressed to just having the neck elevated. Back then I got up twice a night to keep from choking. finally settled into a routine of waking up for a hour at 3 or 4, rinsing my phelgm out, posting on OCF, rinsing my phelgm out and sneaking in an extra can of Jevity.
This last week is the first time I have slept through the night since the operation.
Whew, long post, but the point is that YES, it is very hard now, but it will get much much better with time. And many others have done quite well and recovered much faster. I still need to use Seltzer two or three times a day but the phelgm is now liveable. Good luck
charm