Dream Creator

Dream Creator
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Just a small town Canadian dreamer... This started as the diary of a young woman's experience with breast cancer and continues 5 years later as the diary of a woman, like many other, who has decided to take her lemons and make lemonade. **If reading this blog for the purpose of learning about my breast cancer experience, PLEASE START AT THE OLDEST POST (October 2009) AND WORK YOUR WAY FORWARD**

Friday, March 5, 2010

Damned Canker Sores!!!




http://i.ytimg.com/vi/IDH_K2XHnrU/0.jpg


So, I have been suffering from mouth sores for the last 5 days....it happened after last round too about 7-10 days after treatment they come, but last time they only lasted 2 days and were gone!
This time? BRUTAL.
I had heard of other women suffering so badly from these little sores they couldn't eat at all and had to stay in the hospital. I hoped I wouldn't be that bad, and I felt like I wouldn't, but now I'm a little nervous.
They were on my tongue and bottom lip and side of my mouth and the crease of my gums. they show up because the chemo (apparently only certain chemo drugs, I'll get to that later) drugs target "rapidly growing cells". Which includes cancer, digestive (hence heartburn) hair and the lining of your mouth. When it attacks, your mouth can't fight bacteria and infection like it used to and it breaks out. They tell you at the start of treatment this may happen and to keep your mouth clean and rinse with baking soda and water 4 times a day and so on.
Well, I admit, I didn't rinse as often as suggested and I broke out. But baking soda didn't work to fix it once it was a problem.
It got so bad I couldn't talk properly and started crying cause I couldn't eat anything I wanted to (they recommend staying away from anything acidic, sweet or salty or spicy! Which is everything good.) Finally I went to my pharmacy and got the ultimate fix.
Yes, that's right! A SOLUTION!! Well, it worked for me.
They gave me Maalox (strawberry flavor is best), Benadryl and something from behind the counter called Nystatin (an anti-fungal agent). I have heard some people need a prescription for the Nystatin, but fortunately, I didn't.
So, I take equal portions of these plus and equal portion of water and mix them together and swish the solution in my mouth for as long as I can. It doesn't hurt and it tastes like banana ear infection medicine from when you were a kid....I used it often, and every time I went to eat I would apply Orajel to the sores to numb them, then eat, then either brush my teeth or rinse with water and baking soda, then I would use this magic solution. Basically just trying to ALWAYS keep food or bacteria out of my mouth. To keep it as clean as possible.
They say you can swallow or spit the solution....I chose to spit but I would swallow any remnants. I figured ingesting some may help. It only took a day and a half of doing this and only eating bland foods (yogurt, bread, rice, potatoes, steamed veg, plain meat....) and they were gone. Well, they are almost gone.... but I know it was the solution that fixed it because they were just getting worse and worse until I start rinsing. So I hope this helps some of you....there are also lots of other suggestions out there on the Internet, such as applying honey and so on....so you don't have to sit and suffer!

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