Hi Michael and Seth --

It must be a great "medication" to be back home next to the ocean!! Listen to the sounds and start to heal...

Gary is right about the Duragesic -- you need to change every 3 days and to waen off gradually. We asked our MO at Hopkins yesterday as Barry went onto the patch (25 mg) when we discovered that the oxycodone was making him nauseous (with obvious implications for eating. He needs pain meds to eat as he is totally "by mouth.") She said he should use for another 2 weeks, and then would need to use oxycodone to wean off. However she did say that he could start to use other pain meds (e.g. Tylenol) for any break-through pain as long as his temperature stayed normal. Dental onc (whom we saw yesterday as well said exactly same thing.) Hopkins develops plans to get people off Duragsic, some are using much higher doses.

Btw. Barry found that first day or so he had litle "nightmares" when he tried to sleep.

Mucinex (2 tabs in 12 hours) is wonderful to control phlegm tho it's a whacking large pill and can't be cut up or ground up. Be sure to get the ones without the cough supressent in them. Otherwise, use guaifenisen syrup every 4 hours.

Stay in touch Michael,

Best wishes!
Gail and Barry