Oh, Gail. Well, we were coasting along well into the second week of treatment. My dad was eating pizza with us on a Saturday and by Monday his mouth was sloughing off. I don't say this to scare you, I just wish we had many stories that could have prepared us. With this mouth sloughing came 102.1 fever spikes, a week long hospitalization and a delay in treatment. Having said all of that icky stuff, I am elated to report that the week break and antibiotics brought my dad a whole new mouth!! He is 100% and is finishing his 4th week tomorrow. His spit is almost normal too...
So, in preparation for the worst-I PRAY you don't go through what we did--
Get a suction device for the icky thick junk from a Medical Device company; stock up on viscous Lidocaine and magic mouthwash (have them add Karafate); get your pain drugs (Fentanyl patch for long acting relief and liquid Oxycode for short-for example) ahead of time. Take great caution when he starts taking them if he has no tolerance to narcotics-like my dad didn't.
What happenens is that the sores brew from the inside out then, BLAMMO...
It was a blessing for my dad that he got the break because then he experienced how fast the mouth can heal. It gave him new strength. By the way, I don't think he would have been in the hospital for so long, but that is also when he got his PEG inserted. I am so excited to see how your Honey trick works. I have read many things about that. Unfortunately, we tried the aloe swish too late and it burns my dad's mouth.
It is so funny, when we go in for the chemo (overnight) we bring in our DVD player with funny movies--it is a good thing!
We know we will have another bad wave before this is over--but, HIS TUMOR IS NOT EVEN DETECTABLE!!!!! Went from huge lump to----GONE in 4 weeks! Hooray chemo/rad.
Oh-his neck is starting to have that radiated look too--
Good luck, I will be looking for yor posts!
Shawna