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Mother recently diagnoesd
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Aug 06, 2008 - 1:21 pm
I am normally on the breast cancer side since I had breast cancer last year. Now my mother has been diagnosed with stomach cancer. She is 78 and this has been hard on my family especially for my father and myself having fought cancer. My mother just had her suregery on Monday and as of today the hospital has not gave her anything to eat and now she can't even hold her head up cause she is so weak. Why are they starving her? Also what kinds of foods should she avoid? What can the family do to help speed up the heeling process? Any advise you can give would be very helpful to us. Thank you in advance. |
Joined: Aug 2008
Hi Jackie,
I don't know if this will help, but my husband has stomach cancer too and although surgery isn't an option for us, initially he couldn't eat as the cancerous tumors are on his stomach wall and the weight of them meant that the tummy couldn't pulsate as it normally would to send the food on its way, as a result he couldn't eat anything (if he would it would just come right back up). What happened for us was that in hospital a PICC line was inserted in his arm and he was given TPN (a white liquid food source) straight into the bloodstream.
Perhaps TPN could be an option for your mother? And then at least her body is getting nourishment.
All the best,
Heather
Joined: Sep 2008
Late reply and it is probably already resolved, but I'll add my two cents worth in. Having had to have a total gastrectomy and removal of a 1/3 of my esophagus last September I can relate what my experience was. During the surgery I had a J-Tube inserted (don't ask me the spelling but its a part of the intestine called the jeujenum or something) and there was no sustenance that was given through that for several days. After a week or so is when they started the actual feedings through the feeding tube. They keep the nourishment to the body through the saline solution provided through one of her IV's.
I was on the feeding tube for 6 weeks after the surgery at which point the surgeon performed an endoscopy to verify the healing of the surgery. At which point there was a supposed two