Welcome to OCF!

Im very sorry to read about what you and your mother have been thru! Im sure all of this can be overwhelming to each of you at times. No, its definitely NOT easy for the patient or the caregiver. But working together closely with the medical team of specialists and with some helpful tips from OCF friends you both will get thru whatever you are facing down the road.

As far as the mucous goes, what has her doctors said about it? If this is something new only since the surgery, you would want to rule out an infection which can easily happen to anyone who has had a recent surgery. The mucous mention by Mike was something unrelated to your mothers situation. When oral cancer (OC) patients go thru radiation treatments after they're completed almost all patients have thick ropey mucous for several weeks. Your mother has not had rads yet, so her mucous would not be the same kind as what you may read about here. When trying to treat mucous, allergy or cold meds have things that dry out patients mouths/nasal cavities making them prone to infections. Ive been thru the same thing and have had what appears to be a head cold for over 12 years which I take prescription singular and over the counter liquid childrens benedryl on a daily basis. But every patient is different where this may not apply to your mothers situation. Id check with her doc on what options she could try after the doc rules out the mucous being the result of an infection.

Theres tons of info here on our patient support public forum and on our main OCF site as well. You could easily spend many hours reading more about OC and things pertinent to your mothers medical condition. An informed caregiver or patient make for the best advocates! Feel free to ask us any questions too. We always will do our best to help everyone as much as possible.

Best wishes with your mothers upcoming consult!!!

PS... Since you said your mothers biggest complaint is the excess mucous, ask the doc if a portable suction machine would be helpful. This can be obtained thru a doctors prescription thru a local medical supply company. This can also be done by the nurses at your mothers specialist doctors offices like an ENT or oral surgeon. It never hurts to ask! "If you dont ask you dont get!" is one of my sayings, I even taught it to my children when they were little and afraid to ask for something. After I went thru rads, I had the thick ropey mucous like what Mike mentioned above and struggled to get it out of the back of my throat. I could never completely get it all, no matter how hard I tried. It wasnt until I was well into my recovery before I had a nurse suction out all the gunk. I immediately felt soooo much better!!!
...The pink or green sponge tip mouth swabs any hospital, ENT, oral surgeon/dentist offices should have on hand can help to get the gobs of mucous out of her mouth too. They can be purchased online, at most pharmacies (especially those that sell durable medical equipment), or maybe even at some grocery stores. You can ask the nurses at your moms upcoming doctor appointments, maybe she'll get lucky and they give your mom a few. A water pik used on its lowest setting filled with warm water and some non-alcohol mouth rinse like prescription peridex is another idea to help her.
...Patients can help maintain the ph balance in their sensitive mouths by 4+ times gargling with a mixture of 1 cup warm water, 2 tsp baking soda and 2 tsp salt. The salt may be uncomfortable or burn her mouth so you may have to try a few different combos lessening the salt content until you find one that works beast for your mother. Salt water helps promote healing so try your best to keep as much in the mixture as you can to get the most benefit out of it. She should take a tablespoon or about 15cc sized amount in her mouth and swish it around as much as possible to help loosen and remove mucous, after about a minute spit it out and repeat the process a couple more times.