Chest Congestion - No Infection ???

[SBeth]

Good morning!  My father recently finished his sixth round of Carboplatin, having scans after the third round which showed a little shrinkage in the liver lesion and no growth in the two lung lesions.  This was obviously good news!  However, for the past two months he has been having an increasingly harder time breathing and has a great deal of chest congestion.  His cough is very productive, but clear and no indication of infection.  His oncologist has given him Mucinex, both in syrup and pill form and neither those, nor his inhailers have helped aleviate the cough so that he can catch his breath.  When he gets so out of breath, his oxygen is little help and he gets very nervous trying to breath.  This is causing him (and my mom) a great deal of anxiety.  Any suggestions?

[Tom Galli]

Beth,

 

Wow have I experienced this problem.  When I get a normal cold, it lasts forever going to my chest and I have the same problems your dad has.

 

Here is what I do.  Sleep in an elevated position using a bed wedge pillow or sometimes in my reclining chair to ensure I'm elevated enough.  Use a CPAP machine to force air into my lungs, sometimes on concert with oxygen when things get bad.  Steam up in the shower after taking my morning inhaler (this steam seems to clean our most of the gunk).  Keep a humidifier in my bedroom.  Finally, I rest and restrict my getting out of bed.  I've been dealing with these nightmare chest congestion conditions for nearly 12 years and sometimes I'm down for more than a month.

 

Stay the course.

 

Tom

[SBeth]

Thank you Tom for taking the time to respond.  I'll pass along these helpful tips to my folks.  

 

Best to you & yours for 2016.

 

Beth