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dsexpress
dsexpress Member Posts: 6
in Head and Neck Cancer #1
been thru with treatment for 2 weeks, still spitting up stuff no relief in site. What can I do? seem to get no help from dr.s

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  • longtermsurvivor
    longtermsurvivor Member Posts: 1,842 Member
    #2
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    welcome
    sounds like you have joined the misery club. I assume you are referring to being two weeks post radiation? It always helps to get better answers when you give a bunch of details of your disease and treatment. Anyway, if you are two weeks post rads, you are as bad as you are going to get about right now. If it is the nasty mucus you are suffering with, it should begin to get better pretty soon, but it willtake some time yet to clear. Therenis a thread down below that is called the superthread. It has all kinds of suggestions on what to do. If you cant find it, someone will post amlink to help you get to it. I would, but dang it, I dont know how to do that.

    best to you friend


    Pat
  • ratface
    ratface Member Posts: 1,337 Member
    #3
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    longtermsurvivor said:

    welcome
    sounds like you have joined the misery club. I assume you are referring to being two weeks post radiation? It always helps to get better answers when you give a bunch of details of your disease and treatment. Anyway, if you are two weeks post rads, you are as bad as you are going to get about right now. If it is the nasty mucus you are suffering with, it should begin to get better pretty soon, but it willtake some time yet to clear. Therenis a thread down below that is called the superthread. It has all kinds of suggestions on what to do. If you cant find it, someone will post amlink to help you get to it. I would, but dang it, I dont know how to do that.

    best to you friend


    Pat

    watch where you are spitting
    2 weeks post radiation is probably as bad as it gets for most of us. Things will get better. Don't spit into the wind and welcome aboard the ship. It's a hell of ride.
  • Skiffin16
    Skiffin16 Member Posts: 8,305 Member
    #4
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    Welcome ....
    Like mentioned, more specifics will yield you a more informed answer.

    But as mentioned, if it's radiation related, you are still cooking for a few more weeks post rads.

    It's a slow recovery, measured more in weeks and months, not days or weeks...

    Here's that link to the SuperThread....;

    SUPERTHREAD

    John
  • Tim6003
    Tim6003 Member Posts: 1,514 Member
    #5
    Options
    Skiffin16 said:

    Welcome ....
    Like mentioned, more specifics will yield you a more informed answer.

    But as mentioned, if it's radiation related, you are still cooking for a few more weeks post rads.

    It's a slow recovery, measured more in weeks and months, not days or weeks...

    Here's that link to the SuperThread....;

    SUPERTHREAD

    John

    DSEXPRESS - Mucous for some time to come
    DSEXPRESS -

    I want to be encouraging, but I also want to be informative. 1. You will get thru this. 2. Everybody is different, but don't be upset if this misery of mucous goes on for 2 - 3 months. Mine did and since the doctor told me I should start feeling better just a few weeks after radiation, I was scared to death something was wrong.

    It has now been 3.5 months since my last radiation treatment (January 20th 2012) and it was just a couple of weeks ago the mucous just seemed to go away one morning. I still have my tube in and I have lost a total of 73lbs. I still use my tube some days, but not as much. I east slow and the foods I eat have to be moist to go down.

    Just this morning I was telling my wife "seems my throat is swollen again right at the base of my tongue (I had base of tongue cancer stage III with 1 lymph node invovled - HPV+)

    I took 4 advil and it's better now as I type this from my desk at work. My ear canals still ache sometimes, expecially the ear canal on the left side where my affected lymph node is (I did not have surgery, just radiation and Erbitux treatmets)

    I think the things that gets me most discourage (and I hope it's okay to be honest here) and sometiems worried is when I feel like there is something in my throat? I can't figure out when that will go away? Our mind races once you have been through this and the first thought you have is "did they get the cancer"? But my lymph node shrunk to almost nothing and the ENT and ONC did not see of feel the base of tongue tumor ...so it's probably a combination of swelling and maybe just some anxiety on my part as well. I see my ONC for my first PET scan on the 7th of May (just two days from now) and I am anxious to get that done and hear some news.

    I will leave you with this. The mucous is thick and as miserable as it gets. It just seems unbearable....but it will end my friend, it will end. Gingerale really helped me. They say try not to clear your throat bc it aggravates it with clearing and spitting...they say to swallow and try not to clear ...Im not so sure how doable that is when your the one with what feels like super glue in your throat ...

    I will say a prayer for you and I wish you the best and I do know it will end. Hang in there EXPRESS and just remember we are here for you. Im fairly new, but many on this board are not and they have helped me greatly.

    Best -

    Tim / 208-630-4842 cell
    Call if you need to talk (if that is okay to put our number on here??)One thing I told my wife is I only wish I could share and help anyone just starting out in this process, because it would have been so much better to be able to talk when I was down or scared.
  • longtermsurvivor
    longtermsurvivor Member Posts: 1,842 Member
    #6
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    Tim6003 said:

    DSEXPRESS - Mucous for some time to come
    DSEXPRESS -

    I want to be encouraging, but I also want to be informative. 1. You will get thru this. 2. Everybody is different, but don't be upset if this misery of mucous goes on for 2 - 3 months. Mine did and since the doctor told me I should start feeling better just a few weeks after radiation, I was scared to death something was wrong.

    It has now been 3.5 months since my last radiation treatment (January 20th 2012) and it was just a couple of weeks ago the mucous just seemed to go away one morning. I still have my tube in and I have lost a total of 73lbs. I still use my tube some days, but not as much. I east slow and the foods I eat have to be moist to go down.

    Just this morning I was telling my wife "seems my throat is swollen again right at the base of my tongue (I had base of tongue cancer stage III with 1 lymph node invovled - HPV+)

    I took 4 advil and it's better now as I type this from my desk at work. My ear canals still ache sometimes, expecially the ear canal on the left side where my affected lymph node is (I did not have surgery, just radiation and Erbitux treatmets)

    I think the things that gets me most discourage (and I hope it's okay to be honest here) and sometiems worried is when I feel like there is something in my throat? I can't figure out when that will go away? Our mind races once you have been through this and the first thought you have is "did they get the cancer"? But my lymph node shrunk to almost nothing and the ENT and ONC did not see of feel the base of tongue tumor ...so it's probably a combination of swelling and maybe just some anxiety on my part as well. I see my ONC for my first PET scan on the 7th of May (just two days from now) and I am anxious to get that done and hear some news.

    I will leave you with this. The mucous is thick and as miserable as it gets. It just seems unbearable....but it will end my friend, it will end. Gingerale really helped me. They say try not to clear your throat bc it aggravates it with clearing and spitting...they say to swallow and try not to clear ...Im not so sure how doable that is when your the one with what feels like super glue in your throat ...

    I will say a prayer for you and I wish you the best and I do know it will end. Hang in there EXPRESS and just remember we are here for you. Im fairly new, but many on this board are not and they have helped me greatly.

    Best -

    Tim / 208-630-4842 cell
    Call if you need to talk (if that is okay to put our number on here??)One thing I told my wife is I only wish I could share and help anyone just starting out in this process, because it would have been so much better to be able to talk when I was down or scared.

    Hi Tim
    Great post. Maybe safer to send your number by PM, otherwise I may call to try to sell you an iRobot vaccuum cleaner:)

    Best

    Pat
  • dsexpress
    dsexpress Member Posts: 6
    #7
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    Tim6003 said:

    DSEXPRESS - Mucous for some time to come
    DSEXPRESS -

    I want to be encouraging, but I also want to be informative. 1. You will get thru this. 2. Everybody is different, but don't be upset if this misery of mucous goes on for 2 - 3 months. Mine did and since the doctor told me I should start feeling better just a few weeks after radiation, I was scared to death something was wrong.

    It has now been 3.5 months since my last radiation treatment (January 20th 2012) and it was just a couple of weeks ago the mucous just seemed to go away one morning. I still have my tube in and I have lost a total of 73lbs. I still use my tube some days, but not as much. I east slow and the foods I eat have to be moist to go down.

    Just this morning I was telling my wife "seems my throat is swollen again right at the base of my tongue (I had base of tongue cancer stage III with 1 lymph node invovled - HPV+)

    I took 4 advil and it's better now as I type this from my desk at work. My ear canals still ache sometimes, expecially the ear canal on the left side where my affected lymph node is (I did not have surgery, just radiation and Erbitux treatmets)

    I think the things that gets me most discourage (and I hope it's okay to be honest here) and sometiems worried is when I feel like there is something in my throat? I can't figure out when that will go away? Our mind races once you have been through this and the first thought you have is "did they get the cancer"? But my lymph node shrunk to almost nothing and the ENT and ONC did not see of feel the base of tongue tumor ...so it's probably a combination of swelling and maybe just some anxiety on my part as well. I see my ONC for my first PET scan on the 7th of May (just two days from now) and I am anxious to get that done and hear some news.

    I will leave you with this. The mucous is thick and as miserable as it gets. It just seems unbearable....but it will end my friend, it will end. Gingerale really helped me. They say try not to clear your throat bc it aggravates it with clearing and spitting...they say to swallow and try not to clear ...Im not so sure how doable that is when your the one with what feels like super glue in your throat ...

    I will say a prayer for you and I wish you the best and I do know it will end. Hang in there EXPRESS and just remember we are here for you. Im fairly new, but many on this board are not and they have helped me greatly.

    Best -

    Tim / 208-630-4842 cell
    Call if you need to talk (if that is okay to put our number on here??)One thing I told my wife is I only wish I could share and help anyone just starting out in this process, because it would have been so much better to be able to talk when I was down or scared.

    help
    thanks for the information. When did you start eatting again? when did you return back to work? I'm a truck driver and need to get back on the road.
  • Kent Cass
    Kent Cass Member Posts: 1,898 Member
    #8
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    dsexpress said:

    help
    thanks for the information. When did you start eatting again? when did you return back to work? I'm a truck driver and need to get back on the road.

    Work
    I made it back one month after my last rad, but am one of the lucky ones, here. Most of it depends on the specifics of your C and treatment, and post-tx condition. I had to take 3-months off work, was on Morph at the start of week #2 and spent 4 nights in the hospital in week #6, but you can figure I was back to work by week #16 as a factory Inspector. If you feel up to it- get back behind the wheel and try it.

    kcass
  • Tim6003
    Tim6003 Member Posts: 1,514 Member
    #9
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    longtermsurvivor said:

    Hi Tim
    Great post. Maybe safer to send your number by PM, otherwise I may call to try to sell you an iRobot vaccuum cleaner:)

    Best

    Pat

    Longterm ...lol
    yeah..Kent kind gave me the do's and don'ts .....i just saw this post ...I will heed the advice ...I would never want to take away from the forum...I love it here and the posts...guess my "Southern" roots make me a bit too friendly and trusting at times :)

    Thanks Pat .

    Don't I get a few get out of jail free passes for being a newbie? :) :O :)

    Tim Idaho

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