Hi Everyone,

Richard had his last radiation treatment yesterday. We are so relieved to be done with treatment and I want to thank everyone for being so supportive. Now he is trying to deal with the terrible mucous that is causing gagging and spitting up. It's an awful, salty taste and I'm sure you will know exactly what he is going through. I know he will have to deal with this for awhile, but if anyone has any hints about how to cope, please post.
Eating and keeping food down is difficult. Even the tube feedings are hard, He's managing, but he doesn't want to lose weight now that the treatments are over. He did such a good job keeping weight on during the treatments.
He is using the seltzer water and ginger ale. Also the Biotine mouthwash works good. Any feedback would be appreciated. Geri

Geri,

Hold on now as the first couple of weeks post Tx are usually the worst we have to deal with so just be prepared and if it doesn't turn out that way, so much the better.

Re the thick stuff, I didn't find anything that made it better. I did carry a small Styrofoam cup with me to use to constantly spit it out but night times can be rough as I would wake up with a throat full and barely make it to the bathroom. I think mine only lasted a 2 weeks or so and then the dry mouth sets in.

Fun times but he is soooo close to the end of the tunnel.

Geri, My husband had a horrible time for 3-4 weeks post-tx with mucus, gagging, and vomitting. Things that helped: He slept upright in a recliner. Flouride trays and brushing teeth triggered gagging & vomitting spells, so temporarily he just rinsed when able. Ativan disolved under tongue helped.

This was a bad time and twice he went in for infusions - all the good meds they push IV helped him get some rest for part of the day. He did not lose weight as I was able to keep up with the tube feedings/flds.

Hi Geri:

Congrats on the treatments ending. Now onto the healing. Next couple weeks will still be difficult, but it soon will get better for your husband.

For the mucous, try making a mouth rinse for him. Its aprox. 2 cups water w/ 1 tsp baking soda and 1 tsp salt. Omit the salt if it bothers his mouth. Have him rinse with that at least 5 times per day. Try also taking musinex or robitussin cold meds. Just be careful to ask the doc or pharmacist abotu any drug interactions before taking.

Best of luck with your husbands continued improvement. You are a great caregiver.

Geri,

Christine has got the tips! I'm allergic to baking soda, so I just used warm salt water, which didn't hurt my tender mouth at all. I was on a steady diet of robitussin and tried to stay hydrated and kept a trash can by my bed. Otherwise, I just had to get through it. Its a horridly slow process, but it does pass!

My nurse practitioner (prime CCC team member with whom I am dealing post-op) recently prescribed Guiatuss (apparently the prime expectorant ingredient in some versions of Robitussin) to help dry up the secretions I am having -- I sleep propped up and the secretions slide down to where they stop at my restricted throat, build up there and wake me, so I wasn't getting much sleep at a time -- But the Guiatuss also seemed to be nauseating me a bit, so I stopped using it -- They are getting to be much less than they were.

She just prescribed something new for the purpose, but I haven't picked up the prescription yet.

Pete

I hope that the new prescription helps. Not getting much sleep at a time makes things rough. I always feel tired when that happens to me. I had been waking up about every 2 hours because of some pain that I am having, but now I am getting about 6 hours in before I wake up due to some Zanax the doc gave me.

Patty