Welcome to OCF, Chandana! Im very sorry to read about your mother!!! Shes lucky to have you!!! Around 3 weeks is when most oral cancer (OC) patients begin to feel lousy and the side effects start showing up.

Any changes of issues she needs to speak up and tell her doctor and nurses. This is especially true with the pain that many going thru rads will have. A fentanyl patch is a very good way to help most patients deal with their pain. Its easier to take than other pain meds as its a small patch that she would place in a different spot every 3 days (72 hours). Its very important if using the patch your mother reads and follows ALL directions!!! Never cut, bend, fold, rip, tear, puncture, or disrupt the patch in any way as it can cause the patch to give out too much of the medicine at once. No long hot showers or baths either while shes on it. Other than that its so much better at controlling pain but she still cold have occasional pain called "breakthru pain". For that she should be given another pain medication to take when she has bad pays with the pain. Most pain meds can be given in the liquid form too so this helps patients who are having mouth/swallowing issues. Ask the doc for zofran for nausea and have your mother take it around the clock for the nausea. Thats next to impossible to get ahead of once it begins. If necessary when a patient isnt able to keep anything, even the anti-nausea meds down, they probably would benefit from a suppository anti-nausea dose until the nausea is better controlled to go back to regular medications.

Your mom can also ask for a prescription to get magic mouthwash. Thats a rinse she would swish around in her mouth for about a minute before spitting it out, do NOT swallow it!!! This can be made of different combos. Mine was lidocain, maalox and benedryl. This will numb her mouth long enough (about 20 minutes to forty)so she can try to eat or brush her teeth. She should be rinsing her mouth at least 4x a day with a tsp baking soda, 1 tsp salt and a cup of warm water. This is the same rinse for about a minute and spit it out. The baking soda concotion helps the ph balance in her mouth and the salt helps with healing.

Intake is a HUGE problem for patients who are beginning to have alot of painful mouth sores. Its VERY important your mother take in at the very least 2500 calories and 48-64 oz of water every single day until she hits her first year anniversary of finishing rads. If you can encourage her to do more that will only help her to get thru it easier. What shes going thru burns an incredible amount of calories which show she is NOT getting the nutrients her body needs. This will so easily become a vicious cycle of playing "catch up" but the catch up never happens. One day only taking in 1000 calories thinking the next day they will take in extra to cover it... that tomorrow where they catch up never happens and before they realize it, they're 10 pounds lighter and feeling so much worse than they had the week before. The weight loss is a sure sign she isnt taking in enough every single day. The daily intake is the single most important thing to focus on and when nauseous its next to impossible to do the minimums, let alone keep enough fluids down. Make certain the doc and nurses know every single thing you have written and you can ask them about anything Ive written here if you'd like to.

If your mother is losing weight thats NOT good!!! Even obese patients are told not to lose weight. Losing weight when going thru rads can be very quick!!! I was amazed at losing 20 pounds in a week and didnt mind as I thought I had it to lose. The kind people here warned me about this I was too tired to pay much attention to anything besides sleeping.

Patients who struggle with their intake can get a feeding tube to help them to do better with their daily intake. A nasal tube is a fast, temporary solution that can be done right in the doctors office. Its not fun but it is necessary if a patient isnt able to do their daily intake. Its also very important for the patient to take sips of water many times a day to keep those swallowing muscles active. Believe it or not those muscles can and will very quickly forget how to finction and down the road relearning how to swallow is NOT an easy accomplishment. Your mother can also get extra hydration in the chemo lab a few times a week which will help her feel so much better very quickly. The doc needs to write an open prescription for fluids. Its amazing how much she will feel better when getting this done.

The water intake is soooo very important especially if doing chemo. If at all possible taking in extra fluids the day before, the day of and day after chemo. The extra water is needed to flush the poison out of her system to avoid kidney damage. If shes getting chemo and noticed any change in her hearing that must be reported immediately!!! Cisplatin is a very common chemo for this type of cancer and can cause permanent hearing loss.

Unfortunately rads is cumulative. It gets progressively more difficult as patients continue thru the treatments. Even after completing rads, it still continues working making patients feel pretty lousy for the first couple weeks after finishing. Most patients who finished rads find the recovery phase is NOT anything like what they expected. Its full of ups and downs with some setbacks and not one of us can ev er get well as quickly as we think. As far as how long the mouth sores hang around after rads ends, that will vary greatly for all patients. Ive seen anywhere from 3 weeks to 3 months after rads before patients notice their mouth actually feels better.

Theres a million and one more things I could tell you about this but I dont want to scare you or your mother. Rads is VERY hard for most of us but it definitely is doable!!! Patients can get depressed while going thru rads. Feeling so bad every single day can wreck havoc on a persons outlook and moods. Caregivers have a very difficult job to do and staying positive when they watch their loved one suffer is not easy at all, but it is very important to the patient. Many patients and caregivers as well will need anxiety meds for everything they are going thru. Its just another tool to get everyone thru some very difficult days.

Hang in there and dont worry... you now have us to help you and your mom. Best wishes!!!