My husband just had radical chemo and radiation treatments for tonsil cancer. He went through terrible mucous. It is almost 2 months since this part of his treatment ended. About 2 weeks ago he had surgery and intra operative radiation. He still has mucous, but it is much less than when he was having chemo and radiation. We did not get a suction machine until after the surgery. My husband used it for a little while and stopped when our visiting nurse told him suction machines can sometimes make the mucus worse and your mouth more dry.