Throat cancer (treatment started two week ago and need tipps)

Hi, Acornette I'm sorry your dad is having such a bad time with his treatment, and is in so much pain. It certainly is a very rough 6 weeks for all during  treatment, however you must tell the team, about how much pain he is in, so they can give him something to ease it for him. It is important for him to get as much sleep as he can, so whatever you can do to enable him to sleep will help. The team may also give him something to help him sleep. It is a very tough time for him and for his loved ones around him, you will all get through this together. Do not be afraid to ask the team about anything and tell them about your worries, they will will want to to help.

All the best to you all stay  strong.

Regards Ray.

Hi Acornette

There is no reason for him to suffer pain, they can give him something stronger. They are probably not expecting him to need the morphine based products this early but everyone is different. As Ray says speak to them straight away and explain and I'm sure they will be able help with Oramorph or something similar.

Jon

Thank you they have already dosed him up on morphine this week and it seemed to help, the problem seems to be he's caught a cold, which I know is really bad, I'm keeping an eye on him because he just refuses to go back into hospital, but I told him if it gets any worse I won't hesitate to call an ambulance. Thank you for you're advice it's much appreciated. 

Make sure he is taking enough morphine. I am an absolute wuss and needed lots. You can take oromorph every two hours if needed to top up long lasting morphine taken twice a day. 
when I was at my worst I had severe mucositis ( ulceration) and I took analgesics by rote regularly whether the pain had broken through or not. 
If morphine isn’t touching it there are always fentanyl patches. 
Dont forget the laxatives if he is on morphine. 
You need to talk to his head and neck nursing team to get this sorted properly. Pain can be controlled. 

He hasn't been prescribed any morphine as of yet only cocodomal, but I will ask the team if he can be next week during his treatments if they can give him any, just anything to numb him out and help him sleep relatively comfortably, thank you for your advice, I'll mention the names of the medications you've mentioned, the help is much appreciated 

Has you dad had any chemo yet?

if he has and he’s ill with a cold it could be serious. I didn’t have chemo but I’m sure the hospital gives you an alert number. If his temperature goes above 38 he needs to go to A&E? 

He's had two rounds so far, if his tempurature spikes above 38 yeah he'll have to go into A@E but tempurature is good at the moment and he's overall managing well, he wants to stay out of A@E if he can because it's a 12hr minimum wait atm, he was in A@E for 18 hours last weekend and that's really bummed him out this week with treatment, we want to avoid going if we can, as long as his temp stays stable it should be all okay. 

The other thing he needs to focus tokeephis mouth as clean as possible. He should have been given some Difflam mouthwash to start with which is medicated and analgesic and perhaps Caphosol for ulcers.  He should brush his teeth as much as he can and if he can’t use a gentle rotary toothbrush amazon sells Curaprox brushes which are ultra soft. He’ll be given Duraphat high fluoride toothpaste so make sure he uses that. I couldn’t as the SLS in it gave me more ulcers. Still can’t use it so I use Oranurse and Sensodyne pronamel fluoride mouthwash.
Some people find relief from an antacid with local anaesthetic which he can gargle then swallow, Oxytecaine I think it’s called. 
What mouth preps  has he been given? 

Ah on the mouth front it's pretty easy he had all his teeth taken out so it's just gums to take care of, he's been given a corsody mint mouthwash and lactulose wash aswell but it's more like lotion, it's minimal care because there's no teeth to care for he just needs to keep his mouth clean and that's pretty easily done with a wash. He's managing to eat pretty well despite not having teeth but still losing weight, I've managed to get quite alot of food down him today though so he should be okay. He's chirped up a bit since this morning, thank you so much for your help. 

Fantastic. 
my team used to have a real crack at me over my weight. I used to put stuff in my pockets and wear my heaviest shoes! How daft is that?

i didn’t lose much in the end but I got fed up with them having a go at me over every half kilo. 
Has your dad got liquid supplements on prescription? Ensure and Fortisips are the usual ones. I had nothing but those for four weeks. 400 calories in a small bottle. 
Anyway. I’ll leave you be. I’ve prattled on far too much. Best of luck and I’m so pleased he’s feeling a little better.