Magic Mouthwash

Yes, there is such a thing and I'm picking mine up shortly. I hate to start this post on a down note but I'm in a lot of pain today.

Saturday evening some family members took us to dinner and I got Steak Diane. The seasoning hit me strangely, I took a nausea pill and shortly thereafter my throat started to burn. This has continued throughout the weekend (and yes I do have a direct line to an on call oncologist after hours and on the weekends but chose not to use it) and by this morning it was getting downright unbearable. Tylenol, Percocet- nothing I have for pain is touching this sucker. The inside of my throat and entire jaw line feel like they're going to explode.

I called the cancer center and they wanted to get me in to check for thrush. I told my friend Paula- what am I.. a six month old?? Anyway I should have gone in but I told them I was busy with my toddler and his friends and it would have to wait until tomorrow morning. Big mistake.

This afternoon I feel like a full fledged fire eating woman and I need some help. My sweet husband is making the rounds at his job asking anyone who even looks like they know someone with cancer if this is a common side effect and what we should do. All, including my nurse, say yes it is a horrible side effect of the Bleomycin in my ABVD concoction of chemotherapy. For some reason I felt a bit better that I didn't bring this on myself with Saturday night's dinner. They still wanted to see me before calling in a prescription. I was fine with that until about 30 minutes ago.

I have been unable to eat or drink all day. It just won't pass through my mouth onto my throat. The time on this blog always posts weird, so I'll just tell you it's now 4pm. The thought of spending the evening like this makes me want to cry so...

I got to thinking- my doctor and his nurse are there to help me, right? I'm not one to call and DEMAND things but dag it hurts! So I called up there, my nurse was busy so I said to the receptionist:

"Look, I haven't eaten or drank all day. That can't be good if I'm supposed to stay extra hydrated on chemo. I know they want to see about thrush first and maybe that would change the prescription they would give me but right now I just need at least SOMETHING to help me because I don't think Chloraseptic is going to cut through this mother!! It hurts so much it's unbearable to talk to you!"

So, the nurse called me right back and had already called in the prescription. My son is STILL napping (rough weekend?) and I'm writing this to make time pass before I get my butt up to the pharmacy. I heard the word lidocaine and something that sounded like biscuit. I was just overjoyed to hear they called something in so I deleted the message and everything else is a blur. It could be kool-aid for all I know. Who knows what it is but I just hope it works.

Magic Mouthwash comes in different forms depending on the doctor's orders. It usually includes a mixture of lidocaine, mylanta and benadryl with a few other drugs thrown in for flair. The pharmacist usually grabs the ingredients and whips it up right there. Since my throat is so sore, I not only have to swish I have to swallow some of the junk. Wish me luck!