Baking soda and salt.such a simple solution but so very effective.Rob swore by it.

Margaret
Here is the recipe for your own home grown saliva minus the enzymes of course.
In a one ltre container:
Fill 3/4 with water
Add 1/2 tsp. of salt
Add 1 Tsp. Of soda
Add drops of lemon juice to taste. ( lemon juice will stimulate he salivery glands to produce more saliva)
Shake well with a lot of love and there you have it.

Cheers,
Mike

Carol,

I missed your post, how nice of you to respond. I'm glad Kenny is 2 years out. Do you remember when your life returned to "normal"? Such a long journey this is.

Carol, Cookey, Mike,

My husband can not tolerate salt (or citrus...he'd cringe if I gave him even a drop of lemon juice diluted). I've given him baking soda and water...doesn't seem to help. Guaffisen (sp?) syrup is doing the most good right now.

Here's a weird thing...I gave him ginger ale the other day. And, it did something strange to the inside of his mouth....he was spitting out white pieces that kind of looked like lining of his mouth. Has anyone experienced anything like that?

Seems to only occur with the ginger ale...so we stopped that. But I had thought I had read ginger ale or club soda could help cut the mucous.

Margeret thats exactly what it is .Dead skin sloughing off and hopefully leaving pink healthy tissue underneath.Robin could lose the entire roof of his mouth with one wipe of a sponge he always felt better after it came away.

Thanks, Cookey. So, it's a good thing. Hmmm, funny that it only happens with the ginger ale. I'll let Dan know. :-)

Margaret,
The carbonation of the gingerale is likely getting underneath the dead skin cells and pushing them free. Unless this results in pain just consider it a normal part of the healing acclerated by carbonation.

As for my previous post,
You can eliminate the lemon juice and eliminate or significantly reduce the salt content until he can tolerate it. Everything is trial and error and different for every patient.

Just keep trying different things and know we are here for you and praying for you.

Good Luck
Mike

I think it's supposed to be diet gingerale-at least that's what the chemo nurses were telling mom and I.
Did anyones tongue change after the sloughing? mom had the pink tongue now it's white creamy coated.
this is all scaring the hell out of me.
thanks

White and creamy coated usually means thrush Donna i would get it checked out.

Hi Mike and Liz and Donna,

I read your posts about the ginger ale and carbonation to Dan, so now he's back to drinking it again. :-) BTW, I like the words "healing accelerated"...haven't heard those 2 words together lately.

Donna,

Can you call a triage number for your MO or RO? If it is thrush, the sooner you get an RX the better. Dan's on his 4th bout of thrush. Arrgghhh!!! It always sets him back on fluids and calories. And, this time we caught it within hours of developing and we're still having trouble getting it to go away...he's been on an Rx since Friday.

How's your mom doing outside of the creamy coated tongue? Is she able to eat or drink? Is her weight maintaining?

We're just going into the 4th week of recovery. Every day is a struggle to get in the calories and oz. However, I can tell that Dan is doing much better...even with the thrush.

I just wish we could fast forward a couple months so he could start to enjoy some foods. I feel terribly guilty eating lately.

I told my momm I tough it was thrush....jeesh-wish someone would listen to me.
We have an rx for it, will ask her to take it.
Her weight is down. I think she's probably about 120. She is so hungry, no matter waht I am making her it's almost to difficult to eat.
Margaret-
I'm getting ready to call you.
Thanks Liz and Margaret