My MIL finished with her radiation (from her esophageal ca) about 3 yrs ago, and she STILL has tons of mucous that she uses her suction machine several times a day for. We have tried a variety of things that seem to help, sometimes. Guafenisin is one, she takes 10-15 ml 3x per day and it helps to thin the mucous (in her g-tube as she cannot swallow well). She also swishes with salt water and/or nystatin (she gets regular bouts with spots of thrush). She takes Claritin year round which seems to help reduce the amount a bit. She uses the lemon glycerine swabs a few times a day to help clear off some of the coating around her mouth.
She has also had several enoscopies to dilate her esophagus. She developed a web across that continues to close down on her preventing her from swallowing much. We had hoped at one time she might be able to go back to swallowing boost or ensure, but the most she ever was able to get down was 1 can per day. These days she is lucky to be able to swallow her 3-4 oz of starbucks per day. Tami, like your mom, she goes through tons of kleenex. We do have her using 4x4 gauze pads as much as we can instead, it doesnt shred and stick in her mouth the way that kleenex does.
One other thing we found helped tremendously with the nausea that comes on fairly suddenly... ABHR gel. When she was about done with chemo and radiation (they stopped treatment 2 weeks early as she was SO sick) she asked and was allowed to go on hospice. Hospice suggested the ABHR gel for nausea, and it worked tremendously well. It is a combination of Ativan, Benadryl, Haldol, and Reglan, and a compounding pharmacy makes it into a paste and puts it in a syringe. You just squirt 1/2-1 ml onto the skin (belly, forearm, chest) and rub it in, and voila, the nausea disapates nicely. At least it worked for her...!
She did go off of hospice 2 yrs ago, and really until the last year or so had pretty decent quality of life apart from the suction and need for constant dabbing of mucous/saliva...
Heidi, DIL to the bravest woman I know... Oral cancer 6 yrs ago(surgery only), esophageal cancer 3 yrs ago, and newly re-diagnosed with oral cancer (with a few bouts of skin cancer and bullous pimphergoid inbetween). Seeing oncology this week to determine where we go from here...
