My partner just finished rads and chemo, thank goodness. He is having a huge problem with throat secretions. About every half hour it builds up in his throat and he has to cough it up. He gets no rest, his throat is raw, can’t swallow. Tried a vaporizer, mucinex, soda water, nothing has helped. He needs some kind of relief and frankly I’m a bit tired of hearing it’s just side effects. Oh and right now he’s in the hospital with a blood clot in his lung! Thank you for any suggestions.

Wow! Im so sorry to hear about your partner being hospitalized right after finishing rads. I will never forget those horrible few weeks at the end of rads and beginning of the recovery phase... some of the hardest days/nights Ive ever been thru. When you are right there going thru it, suffering or being the caregiver watching the person you love suffer being unable to help them is agony!!! Hearing the condescending "its the side effects everyone goes thru" does nothing to help you to help the patient get thru it easier. Only those who have gone thru it themselves or helped a close family member (someone living in their household) go thru it they can NOT fully understand what it is like at all.

Since your partner is currently in the hospital ask his doc to write an order for the nurses to use the suction machine on him every hour or 2 which should significantly help him clear the excess mucous. When he is sent home, you can also get a portable suction machine by the doc writing a prescription. Make sure you get the prescription for a portable suction machine if he is still experiencing mucous issues when he is discharged. A medical supply company will provide your partner with a portable suction machine and hopefully they will show you both how to use it. I know its horrible but the mucous should be a temporary issue, at least it is for most patients. Then one day or night it seems to just stop all by itself and the next day the mucous issue turns into the "dry mouth phase" which can last for years. Dry mouth isnt as bad as the excessive post rads mucous or what a great many OC patients have... the thick ropey gunky mucous that feels like its impossible to cough up.

During the beginning of the recovery phase most OC survivors feel horrible!!! Around 3 weeks after finishing rads they will notice they're beginning to feel slightly less crappy one day. Thats the point many term as "crawling out of the tunnel". Its a sign the worst is finally behind you now and although its not completely over yet, your partner is on the right track and showing improvements. Recovery can be a long, frustrating time, patients recover at their own pace. Dont be surprised if you see days, maybe even weeks of improvements then out of nowhere you see the patient go backwards with other recovery issues blindsiding him. Set backs can and will happen to almost every person going thru rads for OC. The only thing any of us are able to do is focus on the controllable which is his intake and ensure a minimum of 2500 calories and 48-64 oz water are done every single day no matter what for at the very least the first year after finishing rads. A total recovery takes 2 years so there is a tremendous amount of healing to go thru. Focusing on intake when patients struggle to eat or keep anything down is NOT easy but its necessary to get the patient thru their recovery phase. One issue many go thru is when patients throw up or have diarrhea, everything that comes out must be put back in. Skimping a day here and there is a common issue many in recovery will experience.... BUT!!!! If skimping, thinking they will make it up the next day instead turns into a vicious cycle of playing "catch up" and tomorrow never comes so the patient is unable to take the extra calories in as they thought they would do. I cant stress the importance of a higher intake enough, it is what can make or break patients. From what Ive seen with hundreds of patients who start the "make it up tomorrow" game... in the end they ALL greatly suffer far more than they should. If they had listened and followed the daily bare minimums as directed to do their bad days would be very, very few where they would begin to feel better and have a significantly easier time with their recovery.

Im wishing you all the very best with everything you both are going thru!!! Hoping your partner turns around very soon and gets to go back home. One other very important thing I forgot to mention is your partner is a VERY high risk patient!!! After just completing rads his resistance is nil!!! Im sure the blood work would show he has a severely compromised immune system at this time . Its imperative you need to keep him isolated, far away from people, stores, etc. Frequent hand washing, limited expose to the general public, using hand sanitizer and all the other precautionary advice thats been given on how to avoid contracting the Coronavirus must be followed to keep him safe.

Best wishes with everything!!!

Thank you! It’s so good to hear from someone who knows what we are talking about. Interestingly enough when he came home from surgery we had a sunction machine. I have called for the machine to returned but it hasn’t happened so I will get it going when he comes home. I will also ask the nurses to get something going there. It’s so darn hard to not be able to be there in person and he’s having trouble talking.

For sure we are being super careful to keep him away from all those bad germs out there. I am so very careful to not bring anything home.

I just so want him to feel better and come home!

Thank you again and again.

Micki,

Do you know if the clot in his lung is due to deep veined thrombosis? My husband developed the condition first in one leg and then in the other after the second dose of Cisplatin. If so, a daily injection will take care of it. What I learned from the oncologist that DVT is a very common condition in cancer patients. Because my husband’s cancer metastasized, he was using the injection till the very end. The doctor at the Thrombosis Clinic forgot one time and told him to stop the injections. The oncologist nearly went through the roof when she heard it and sorted it out for us on the spot.

They’ve checked his legs and they’re clear. Really have no clue the origin of the clot. I know they mentioned injections but not sure yet. Thanks for the info in cisplatin, we hadn’t heard about that side effect.

Take care

No, it wasn’t a side effect of Cisplatin, cancer sufferers tend to get DVT. That’s what I was as told.

Thankfully he’s home and improving, even the secretions aren’t “quite as bad” as they were last week. One day at a time.

That’s good to hear. It’s truly one day a a time.