Hello April and Captain Aussie,   I cannot thank you both enough for replying to my message and so swiftly too. It’s heartbreaking watching the person you love go through this horrendous journey but I hope you don’t mind me saying it has been an absolute god send stumbling across your blogs and for me to find helpful tips to possibly help my partner Andy.   I thought it would probably help by giving you a little bit more meat on the bones reference Andy’s journey- in July this year at 52 years of age I noticed a lump on his neck and nagged him in seeing a doctor. He was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, overactive Thyroid and tongue cancer in the space of two weeks. His private consultant said it was best to have a tonsillectomy due to bateria building up at the back of the throat, Andys op went well. Two days later he was unable to swallow even saliva, two to three times that week we were back and forth to A & E with the same outcome- the would hydrate him and pump him full of steroids and send him home - still there was no improvement. Day 7 after the op I was driving him to the hospital, he coughed and started to haemorrhage in the car - we later discovered he lost 4 pints and needed a transfusion!  I drove like a mad woman to get him to hospital, jumping red lights, beeping the horn and flashing the headlights.  In theatre they eventually managed to stem the bleed and Andy spent 10 days in ITU and the first night was sedated to allow his body to rest. Throughout this time Andy still couldn’t swallow anything and was spitting out this rancid sputum which smelt like rotting onions! Andy hadn’t eaten for 10 days and had lost 2 and a half stone in weight and was still very poorly. They made a decision to put a peg in to assist with feeding so at least he could finally eat but he had to be transferred to the ENT hospital via ambulance 15 miles away - they did a night time run so it was quieter! Whilst The Anesthetist struggled to insert the tube down Andy’s throat they described a loud pop and discovered a huge abscess behind Andy’s esophagus- they drained 630mls of pus from this and have stated they have never encountered anything like this before, they couldn’t believe that Andy had shown no temperature to alert this! Andy finally got his peg and could finally eat!!   So he is now just about to start week 9 tomorrow and is totally peg dependant and can take nothing via mouth and everything makes him vomit! The most major issue is the Mucus and he is struggling so much. He has a Nebuliser and has used this once so far, I’m not sure if it helped or not really.  He is absolutely exhausted and mainly on the sofa as can’t lay flat due to coughing and mucus. I just wish I could help him more, it’s devastating to watch him go through all this and not being able to fix him. bless you both for being there and giving me support- heartfelt thanks Kerrie   ... View more

Hello, I just wanted to first Thank you for sharing your absolute valuable information, my partner is on week 8 of treatment and had exactly the same as you, 7 weeks of radiotherapy everyday for 20 minutes and x3 Chemotherapy Cisplatin sessions, I would love to converse with you further as he is really struggling with the thick mucus and as you have been through the same tough, debilitating journey I thought you may be able to help with some tips on getting him through day by day. Many many thanks in advance- Kerrie ... View more