Mucus

Hi Oberon 

well done do far

Your dieticians won’t let you lose your PEG till your weight is stable without using it. So don’t worry. 
Mucous… mine went as quickly as it came some time after 12 weeks. 
In the  meantime I found fizzy Diet Coke or ginger ale were good at shifting it. That and spitting a lot. 

Hi. 

That mucus was one of the worst things in my case. Treatment finished in June and I still have some of that thick mucus appear sometimes. 

I was given sinus flush by nurses and It helped a bit when it was the worst. But didn't really shifted it altogether.

There are medications that can make it less thick so easier to shift, but they don't work for everyone (didn't for me). 

Hot water inhalation, and speaking to nurse about what else can help would be my advice.

All the best. 

Izzy. 

Sounds like your are doing well.  I kept my PEG in until I had a clear scan - just in case.  By that stage I was not using it for anything, just maintaining it. I did not have really bad mucus but I did find a nebuliser helped break it down. 

Hi there 

I'm 8 weeks post treatment and was at a similar stage to you at 3 1/2 weeks. 

I still have mucus in the morning, and at some points during the day. I've recently started using my nebuliser for a few mins in the morning and that's really helped. I also sleep propped up, and this week we raised the head end of the bed by putting wooden blocks under the feet! Might sound a bit drastic but it means I'm using fewer pillows now.

You could try steam inhalation if you don't have a nebuliser. I'm also still doing a fair bit of spitting up,but it has significantly reduced. 

I was told my peg will stay in for as long as it's needed - a dietician spoke loosely to me about having it for a year. I think this is because of the up and down nature of recovery. 

I was warned that things may go backwards before they get better, so be prepared for that. For for me that was at about 6 weeks, but I think it can happen at any time. I  developed quite painful mucositis and oral thrush and struggled to eat much, despite making good progress at the start. 

But at my 'six week' review this week , the consultant was very relaxed about progress, saying everything was as expected. I was really reassured, and I am learning what people mean when they tell me this is going to take a while! 

I hope this helps a bit

Polly 

I (thankfully) didn’t suffer too much with mucus though it was definitely an issue. The biggest thing that I found that helped and it’s perhaps a bit counter intuitive was good hydration. I’m not by nature a big water drinker (much prefer coffee) but I went all out on a water binge for a while and found it dramatically impacted on the mucus production, hydration is important nyway but it really helped me with the mucus too