There was a different kind of crisis in our home and this is the first opportunity I have had to talk with Mom about this issue. Yes, she had trouble with thick mucus stuff. She still does when she gets those exams where they put the tube down your throat. She just basically ignored it. She found that slightly acidic foods would help with nausea. Maybe a piece of orange...or if that is too acidic, something a little less acidy. To this day, she needs to be careful about fatty foods. She uses very little butter on her bread and uses milk in coffee instead of cream. During the first year, she said she ate nearly constantly, whether she felt like it or not. You know those Carnation Instant Breakfasts? She would make one of those in the morning and take sips all day. But it would take her the whole day to drink one of those. But it helped with the calories. She blended a lot of stuff in the blender. She suggests a slice of bread with maybe a piece of melon to help your father with the nausea/mucous stuff. She also strongly suggests, if he is not already doing so, to never sleep laying flat. My parents always had about six inches worth of books stacked under the legs of the headboard, to raise the head part of the bed so the stomach contents to stay down.