all right - so far so good

Fergus2007

As some of you might know: my father was diagnosed with stage 4 colon in August.

By November he found himself in ICU due to "study drug" and blood poisening that resulted ...


At this point he is doing much better ... BUT we are struggeling to get him to put on the 40 lbs he lost while in hospital.

... not that he is an unreasonable weight (just that we haven't seen him this thin and would rather have a "buffer zone on him

He's 6'1" and about 79 kg.

What would you suggest to get him to put on weight?

Right now he's having a BIG breakfast.
Then a cream soup for lunch (large)
... followed by a meal replacement at 3:00
... and *perhaps* a snack at 5:00
Dinner (maybe a little late) at 7:00 (or past 7:00) ... but for some reason his appetite is VERY low at that point.

(he is on Xeloda)

PGLGreg

I have a similar problem with my mother, who needs to put on weight and is not very communicative about what she'd like to eat. Her big meal, also, is breakfast. I'm working out some strategies. I never ask her what she wants to eat, since she'll usually say "nothing", but I just put stuff in front of her. Or I'll give her a choice between several things, because once she's chosen something, she feels obligated to eat it. At breakfast, I just keep giving her more and more, until she can't eat anything else.
-Greg

nudgie

Carbs is what helps with weight gain, but you don't want to go down the unheathly path to put weight on.

Peanut butter
Nuts (almonds, cashews, peanuts, etc)
Meats (chicken, turkey, fish and yes some red meat, but low in fat)
Fruits
Baked potatos
Oatmeal
Pastas

Also, look at supplements (vitamins). You can also check out the Ensure and the Boost shakes.

Additionally, you can speak with dietary person who can also provide advice on weight gain. I did when I was going through Chemo because I did not want to loose a lot of weight.

Melanie781

My husband was on Xeloda for 25 days a couple months ago and will be taking it as adjuvant chemotherapy soon. It didn't seam to effect his appetite too much, but I did keep Jello and Cool Whip in the fridge so he could have that as a snack whenever he wanted. For this next chemotherapy for the next 5 months, I want to be ready to help with his nutrition needs and I found a URL on the ACS website that has a lot of helpful information and recipes just for that. You can find it at: http://www.cancer.org/docroot/MH/MH_1.asp?sitearea=MH&level=1.

jel1940

Hi! You might try Ensure or a generic equivalent. It also comes in a pudding form. I;m a geriatric nurse, was, and we found this very effective. Adding a little honey or sugar often makes foos more palatable.