Hello Everyone,
I am new here, I am a 34 year old female from Massachusetts, who has just went through 8 weeks of radiation and 7 weeks of chemo, for tonsil cancer.
It has been 3 weeks since my last treatment, and my mouth still aches, I keep taking this magic mouthwash to numb my mouth. I have thick saliva and sometimes I hack up thick saliva with blood in it and what appears to be little pieces of flesh. It scares me. I want this to be over with and want to go back to eating at Wendy' and Having Pizza but I know that will be awhile still. Though I did have a few bits of a meatball last night and let me tell you that tasted so good. I am happy that I have my taste back.

How long have people here had to deal with thick saliva and a feeding tube. Also do you take Saligan and is it something we will be on forever?

Hi and welcome to the board. My husband had surgery and radiation for tonsil cancer two years ago. I remember thinking the thick mucous would never go away, but it did, so hang in there. It did take many months post radiation and he had his feeding tube many months post radiation also. The good news for you is that two years later he is pretty much back to normal, some dry mouth, but he keeps a water bottle handy at all times and life is once again wonderful. So, hang in there, things will get better.
Julie
PS My husband was 37 when diagnosed and was stage IV as it had spread to several lymph nodes in neck

Cindy,

Hi and welcome – what a triumph – at least that's what I felt like after my fist bite of “real food”. Mine was meatloaf. That ground meat really is good stuff. I too had 8 weeks of radiation for tonsil cancer and experienced the saliva and blood. At one point 7 up was the only thing that would cut through the build up. I can't answer the feeding tube or saligan questions sorry.

But I can tell you that it gets better everyday now. Some days you won't even realize that you are better. It is gradual – but consistent. Hang in there and feel free to come to the board and ask anything. I have learned in the little time I've been here that someone here will answer and has “been there done that” It's a very supportive group of people.

Take care,
Dinah

Your situation is about normal for where you are in the process, and like it was said before, it does get better, but it just takes time for your body to completely heal. Rather than post a lengthy response to your two questions I want to direct you to the search engine that is part of the message board. (This is different from the one that resides in the body of the web site) You can put in a search word like Salgen and it will find previous posts for you that contained conversations with that word. As I recall there were some pretty good answers from the group in relationship to your questions. Try it out, you will have to search in each main topic area.