One thing to check on is whether your husband has developed a yeast infectioin in his mouth ("thrush"-- see OCF web site for more info). My husband's mouth got very sore very suddenly, a major burning pain when he drank or ate at about 2 1/2 weeks (much sooner than we had expected). At that point he had almost no mucositis -- it was thrush. As the normal oral flora is damaged by the radiation the yeast can take over. There may be small white spots (actually colonies of yeast) on the mucosa of the mouth, especially on the soft palate and back of the throat -- these come off easily when touched *carefully* with a dampened q-tip. Mucositis lesions do not come off, as they are erosions of the actual mouth lining -- rather like large canker sores.

The good news, sort of, is that thrush is treatable -- my husband's doctors gave him Diflucan, an oral tablet, and also a Nystatin rinse. The thrush came under control and the burning went away. Eventually more extensive mucositis came in, but that's a different story...

Gail