Hello! It has been awhile since I've posted, but thought I would "vent" a few issues that my dad is having on this forum. It always seems like the suggestions I give him to try from ideas on the forum are more than any doctors are giving him. This might be a long post - so stick with me!

1 - worst problem BY FAR is my dad's excessive mucous. This summer has been HORRIBLE - but the tremendous heat and humidity we've had in Iowa hasn't helped anyone out....but I find it weird because in the winter the docs have told him to use a humidifier to HELP with mucous....strange huh? It seems he's tried about everything.....the mucous just won't stop. And now it has a pretty nasty odor....I think it just comes from he having such an excess, cleaning out his mouth, and 15-20 minutes having a mouth full AGAIN. (by the way...he is on a PEG tube and can't swallow, so he has to cough and push everything out.) He mentioned he lives his life now in the toilet bowl. Any suggestions? He has a prescribed mouth rinse and a nasal rinse he has been told to try, but it works right after he cleans everything and when the mucous presents itself, it smells again. Oh - and the mucous is so bad he can't sleep.....he's taken a few Tylenol PM's, but mom is scared he will choke on the mucous.

2 - neck pain in the shoulder blade area and jaw area/temple area/ear....this is the side he had all of his radiation on....he can MAYBE open his mouth 1-2 cm.....so i think some of this is just pain from post radiation and also not using his jaw. He stretches his mouth daily, but can't get it very wide open. Is there something that can be done from "pain" after radiation? the muscle "stiffness?"

3 - tiredness....he seems to sleep more now than he did while going through his radiation treatments LAST summer. Maybe it's just the hot summer and the excessive mucous is making it so he can't sleep, so therefore he sleeps during the day - but this worries me. Anyone STILL tired a year out of treatment?

My dad is usually such an upbeat and positive person...he's not only an oral cancer survivor, he's a skin cancer survivor, and has survived leukemia and a complete stem cell transplant from his sister over 16 years ago. He has been through SO much...this summer has just been tough. Tonight he broke down and said that when he's gone someday, he doesn't want my mom and me to remember him the way he is now....a mouth full of mucous and going to the bathroom to clean his mouth out every 10 minutes. Makes me really sad to see him SO unhappy after fighting SO hard all of these years. Why can't the mucous just stop? Seems there is always something. I love my dad SO much and can't imagine life without him (he's only 62)....please pray for some relief for him. He goes to Omaha on Monday for a checkup - I hope they can help him. Any suggestions for the odor/mucous/muscle stiffness/achiness would be SO appreciated.

Thanks for listening and sorry for the long post - just a GREAT place to vent and MAYBE get some ideas to pass on to him.