I ate cream of wheat with lots of butter pretty much every day towards the end, it was the only thing that I seemed to be able to get down.

With regards to the ginger ale, I actually found flat ginger ale really helpful towards the end for the thick saliva/mucus. I would let it sit out for about a day and then swish it around in my mouth and spit out to clear out some of the gunk. Everyone handles things differently, so some stuff you just have to try and see how it goes!