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Excessive mucous after throat cancer treatment: How did you cope?

Posted by susanciam @susanciam, May 17 4:11pm

My husband is a week post op TORS surgery for throat cancer,, at the base of his tongue, he also had his tonsils removed as well as 36 lymph nodes,,, he has NON stop excessive mucous forming,, he feels
Like he’s drowning, surgeon says it’s normal,,,, any one out there experiencing the same thing????

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phyllisg | @phyllisg | May 26 7:25am

My husband has similar problem. White foamy mucous. It has improved some since radiation dries the mouth but we had little luck finding anything that helped. He just carried tissues and a spit cup all the time. He can't swallow so this just added to the problem.

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susanciam | @susanciam | May 26 12:20pm

Phyllis, thank you so much. Fro responding,,,,, many blessing to you and your husband,

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sh454 | @sh454 | May 27 9:55am

Yes I am experiencing excessive mucous and heavy green phlegm. I was told it was my sinus draining. My ENT doctor did an endoscopy and my sinus is empty, and it is not coming from my lungs- it is my body reacting to the damage that radiation did to my throat tissue. I have an inoperable base of tongue squamous cell tumor. I have completed 33 radiation treatments and accompanying chemo 40 days ago.
I was told that the phlegm and nausea and all the rest are the worst for 90 days after treatment ends. For now I am just dealing with it the best I can- which is coughing it up and spitting it out. I tried swallowing water yesterday but it went down the wrong way once, and the right way once. Good luck to you

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susanciam | @susanciam | May 27 11:44am
In reply to @sh454 "Yes I am experiencing excessive mucous and heavy green phlegm. I was told it was my..." + (show)
@sh454

Yes I am experiencing excessive mucous and heavy green phlegm. I was told it was my sinus draining. My ENT doctor did an endoscopy and my sinus is empty, and it is not coming from my lungs- it is my body reacting to the damage that radiation did to my throat tissue. I have an inoperable base of tongue squamous cell tumor. I have completed 33 radiation treatments and accompanying chemo 40 days ago.
I was told that the phlegm and nausea and all the rest are the worst for 90 days after treatment ends. For now I am just dealing with it the best I can- which is coughing it up and spitting it out. I tried swallowing water yesterday but it went down the wrong way once, and the right way once. Good luck to you

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Thank you for taking the time to respond! Blessing to you!!!!!

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