checking in
anyway enough wineing
Brad
Comments
-
Weight gain
After all is said and done it comes down to calories. Won't go into my story again but recently my weight fell to 135-140 and I just didn't have the strength or energy (will power some may say) to ingest more calories. Dr had to insert a peg and I started on liquid nutrition. I force myself to take no less that 2500 calories per day and sometimes 3500. I'm proud to say this morning I tipped the scales at 163lbs. My wife promised me a "wild night" when I hit 165 lbs so when I'm off-line for a day or two you will understand and know I hit the magic number :>) .
Depression - Well you can either accept the new normal of get a script for anti-depression meds. I didn't ask for the hand I have been dealt but I'm damned sure gonna play till the games over. It pisses me off that this crap hit me but I have learned so much and met so many neat people having to battle this disease.
I'd like to think there are a set number of people in the world who will be messed over so there are two or three people out there who owe me a "thanks" for getting my share plus theirs.0 -
Good to See You
Thanks for the update.
Sadly, depression seems to hit a lot of folks on this site. I've heard that meds make a big difference. Yeah, I know "more meds?!?". But I'd consider the need short term, and not feeling so down might make it easier to get some weight on.
Don't blame you at all for being frustrated. Hard to be kept from the things you want to for longer than a few days.
My only suggestion for weight gain you already know - smoothies. I tried to cut back on dairy and sugar, so my smoothies didn't have added milk or sweeteners, but I could still get several hundred calories in a smoothie (yogurt - yeah, it's dairy - banana, protein powder and peanut butter) helped me get in my calories.
Glad you're still working with a good attitude (OK - MOST of the time). Wish it weren't taking you a little longer to get to the finish line than it does most of us. Hoping that your next set of scans has you grinning like a fool.0 -
Thanks for the responsePam M said:Good to See You
Thanks for the update.
Sadly, depression seems to hit a lot of folks on this site. I've heard that meds make a big difference. Yeah, I know "more meds?!?". But I'd consider the need short term, and not feeling so down might make it easier to get some weight on.
Don't blame you at all for being frustrated. Hard to be kept from the things you want to for longer than a few days.
My only suggestion for weight gain you already know - smoothies. I tried to cut back on dairy and sugar, so my smoothies didn't have added milk or sweeteners, but I could still get several hundred calories in a smoothie (yogurt - yeah, it's dairy - banana, protein powder and peanut butter) helped me get in my calories.
Glad you're still working with a good attitude (OK - MOST of the time). Wish it weren't taking you a little longer to get to the finish line than it does most of us. Hoping that your next set of scans has you grinning like a fool.
I to hope that my next scans leave me grinning ear to ear, especially since in the 19 months I have been fighting the beast I have never had a clean scan. I watch my calories and most days get in 2200 to 3000 calories. I got side tracked last week and did not watch my fluid intake and indid up dehydrated. Now I track my fluid intake like crazy, I hate being sick on top of the side effects. Pam I am good with smoothies post some of your favorite recipes for us to try please. I have an appointment next month with my radiologiest in San Francisco and because that is where all of my treatments have been I get such an anxity attach each time I have to make the 4 1/2 hour drive down their. In the last two weeks I lost an uncle to cancer and another uncle was diagnosed with liver and prostate cancer. Both great men that lived their life for god, cancer doesent care who it chooses, I just F___king hate cancer it has robbed me and so many people of a great life we had worked so hard to acheave.
Brad0 -
I was so glad to see you post.rmkbrad said:Thanks for the response
I to hope that my next scans leave me grinning ear to ear, especially since in the 19 months I have been fighting the beast I have never had a clean scan. I watch my calories and most days get in 2200 to 3000 calories. I got side tracked last week and did not watch my fluid intake and indid up dehydrated. Now I track my fluid intake like crazy, I hate being sick on top of the side effects. Pam I am good with smoothies post some of your favorite recipes for us to try please. I have an appointment next month with my radiologiest in San Francisco and because that is where all of my treatments have been I get such an anxity attach each time I have to make the 4 1/2 hour drive down their. In the last two weeks I lost an uncle to cancer and another uncle was diagnosed with liver and prostate cancer. Both great men that lived their life for god, cancer doesent care who it chooses, I just F___king hate cancer it has robbed me and so many people of a great life we had worked so hard to acheave.
Brad
Sorry that you are struggling a bit.
With the fentanyl, you really need to wean off very slowly, taking small steps down. 100->75->50->25->12
It was slow going for me I was on for a year.
Hondo started a thread on smoothies. Shared a lot on there.
Count your calories for sure, and get plenty of them. I had to take in at least 2400 a day or I lost weight, and I'm only 5'2" and petite. I have finally been able to drop down to around 1700. Still more than I used to get a day.
As far as depression goes, lexapro was once a life saver for me. Meds can really help.0 -
Whine Away
You're not whining to us, just sharing.....it's a good thing to do.
Sorry you are having a few issues, but kind of goes with the territory as you know.
I'm sure your next scans will be much better than the first you spoke of. The energy takes awhile for sure. I'm still taking a hit energy wise in the evenings..not sure on mine, may be thyroid related or just post treatment.
Best,
John0 -
Time to whine some more,Skiffin16 said:Whine Away
You're not whining to us, just sharing.....it's a good thing to do.
Sorry you are having a few issues, but kind of goes with the territory as you know.
I'm sure your next scans will be much better than the first you spoke of. The energy takes awhile for sure. I'm still taking a hit energy wise in the evenings..not sure on mine, may be thyroid related or just post treatment.
Best,
John
Last night i was taking some capsule pills and one got stuck in my throat, I can still eat and breath but it does effect my swallowing some what, not that it is that great. Anyway googled it and the recomendation is to eat bread, just what we can get down the easiest. So I ate some bread with butter and it still is there, having to water down all my food so much I don't think the bread was able to grab ahold of the pill and push it down. So left a message for the doctor about the pill and the fact that my voice has gotten really horse this past week. I also asked them about throat dialation, since I have had radiation twice there must be some serious scare tissue and maybe it could help. I could deffentally swallow better after the first time though treatment. Any thoughts or experiances throat dialiation?
Brad0 -
Been there done that.rmkbrad said:Time to whine some more,
Last night i was taking some capsule pills and one got stuck in my throat, I can still eat and breath but it does effect my swallowing some what, not that it is that great. Anyway googled it and the recomendation is to eat bread, just what we can get down the easiest. So I ate some bread with butter and it still is there, having to water down all my food so much I don't think the bread was able to grab ahold of the pill and push it down. So left a message for the doctor about the pill and the fact that my voice has gotten really horse this past week. I also asked them about throat dialation, since I have had radiation twice there must be some serious scare tissue and maybe it could help. I could deffentally swallow better after the first time though treatment. Any thoughts or experiances throat dialiation?
Brad
I've had it done three times. It should be routine and an easy thing for you. It does work. Depending on how much they need to dilate, they sometimes do it in stages, a little at a time. One stretching will probably do it for you though. The second time I had it done, they went in though my peg tube and did it. They usually put you out, so you probably won't know a thing.0 -
Hi Brad
Glad to see you back, it’s going to take some time before your energy gets back and you start putting on the weight again. I too had the Rad thing twice and it was about 4 or 6 months after before I was up and going again, but the good part is I was going again. On weight just eat all you can the more calories the better. I am still at 159lbs and can’t get above that. Depression: I too get it now and then, I try to stay off the medication for it as I am taking so many pills now just don’t want to add anything more. What I been doing for depression is when I feel it coming on is to get a wet rag and start wiping my face and head down, then I start praying and thanking Jesus for everything he has done for me and somehow I have been able to pull myself back out of the depression. I still cry while the hold thing is going on but I try to think of it as tears of joy. That is just me and how I am handling it, hopes you can find your way as well.
All the best my friend and please keep posting
Hondo0 -
Just realized that thatHondo said:Hi Brad
Glad to see you back, it’s going to take some time before your energy gets back and you start putting on the weight again. I too had the Rad thing twice and it was about 4 or 6 months after before I was up and going again, but the good part is I was going again. On weight just eat all you can the more calories the better. I am still at 159lbs and can’t get above that. Depression: I too get it now and then, I try to stay off the medication for it as I am taking so many pills now just don’t want to add anything more. What I been doing for depression is when I feel it coming on is to get a wet rag and start wiping my face and head down, then I start praying and thanking Jesus for everything he has done for me and somehow I have been able to pull myself back out of the depression. I still cry while the hold thing is going on but I try to think of it as tears of joy. That is just me and how I am handling it, hopes you can find your way as well.
All the best my friend and please keep posting
Hondo
Just realized that that thread was for juicer recipes, not smoothies. Sorry. Here are some smoothie recipes. Also I think there are juicer and smoothie links under the nutrition section in the superthread.
I have at least one smoothie every day with my brunch. If I cannot sit and eat a meal with my smoothie, I will dump in a scoop of protien powder in any of the smoothies. Otherwise, I don't usually have the protien powder with it.
Apricot Smoothie
1 cup almond milk
4 canned apricot halves (packed in juice)
1 small orange
1 banana
Chocolate Peanutbutter Banana Smoothie
1 banana
1/4 cup vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup chocolate almond milk
2 tablespoons reduced-fat all-natural peanut butter
Pear and yogurt smoothie
1 cup plain nonfat or low-fat yogurt
1 pear
1 small sliced banana
2 tablespoons protein powder
3/4 cup almond milk (or reg milk or soy milk)
Most of the time I never measure, I take my fruit, and slice it, and put it in my glass and then fill up the rest of the space in the glass almost to the top with the blending liquid of my choice. Usually some kind of almond milk or yogurt. This way you dump the glass contents into the blender and you have the perfect amount, since I used the glass to measure. Regular combos include:
Some frozen peaches
1 apple
1 carrot
------------
1 apple
1 pear
3 leaves of romaine lettuce
---------------------------------
1 apple
1 orange
1 carrot
---------------------
1/4 watermelon
1/4 honey dew
1/4 cantaloupe (I like to blend this one with a little juice instead of a milk product)
------------------------------------
1 banana
1 apple
3 leaves of romaine
Big tbs of almond butter
Tbs flax seed
----------------------------
1 banana
Some frozen strawberries (or any other berry)
---------------------------------------
1 banana
Some frozen cherries
Nice blended with chocolate almond milk
Or if you have a good high speed blender / emulsifier like mine, you could do an all veggie v-8 style drinks or green smoothies:
1 red pepper
1 large ripe tomato
4 oz white cabbage
1 carrot
1 celery stick
Scoop of ice
-----------------
Green apple
1 pear
1 cucumber
1 stick celery
3 leaves romaine
Scoop of ice
--------------------
1 cup spinach
1 small cucumber
2 stalks of celery with leaves
A quarter size piece of ginger root
A handful of parsley
1 apple
Juice of 1 lime0 -
I posted earlier tosweetblood22 said:Just realized that that
Just realized that that thread was for juicer recipes, not smoothies. Sorry. Here are some smoothie recipes. Also I think there are juicer and smoothie links under the nutrition section in the superthread.
I have at least one smoothie every day with my brunch. If I cannot sit and eat a meal with my smoothie, I will dump in a scoop of protien powder in any of the smoothies. Otherwise, I don't usually have the protien powder with it.
Apricot Smoothie
1 cup almond milk
4 canned apricot halves (packed in juice)
1 small orange
1 banana
Chocolate Peanutbutter Banana Smoothie
1 banana
1/4 cup vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup chocolate almond milk
2 tablespoons reduced-fat all-natural peanut butter
Pear and yogurt smoothie
1 cup plain nonfat or low-fat yogurt
1 pear
1 small sliced banana
2 tablespoons protein powder
3/4 cup almond milk (or reg milk or soy milk)
Most of the time I never measure, I take my fruit, and slice it, and put it in my glass and then fill up the rest of the space in the glass almost to the top with the blending liquid of my choice. Usually some kind of almond milk or yogurt. This way you dump the glass contents into the blender and you have the perfect amount, since I used the glass to measure. Regular combos include:
Some frozen peaches
1 apple
1 carrot
------------
1 apple
1 pear
3 leaves of romaine lettuce
---------------------------------
1 apple
1 orange
1 carrot
---------------------
1/4 watermelon
1/4 honey dew
1/4 cantaloupe (I like to blend this one with a little juice instead of a milk product)
------------------------------------
1 banana
1 apple
3 leaves of romaine
Big tbs of almond butter
Tbs flax seed
----------------------------
1 banana
Some frozen strawberries (or any other berry)
---------------------------------------
1 banana
Some frozen cherries
Nice blended with chocolate almond milk
Or if you have a good high speed blender / emulsifier like mine, you could do an all veggie v-8 style drinks or green smoothies:
1 red pepper
1 large ripe tomato
4 oz white cabbage
1 carrot
1 celery stick
Scoop of ice
-----------------
Green apple
1 pear
1 cucumber
1 stick celery
3 leaves romaine
Scoop of ice
--------------------
1 cup spinach
1 small cucumber
2 stalks of celery with leaves
A quarter size piece of ginger root
A handful of parsley
1 apple
Juice of 1 lime
I posted earlier to chowhound because someone else was looking for smoothies. The person after me posted a ton of links for smoothies. I am going to check them out. Here is the thread with all the links.
MORE SMOOTHIE RECIPES0 -
stuck pillsrmkbrad said:Time to whine some more,
Last night i was taking some capsule pills and one got stuck in my throat, I can still eat and breath but it does effect my swallowing some what, not that it is that great. Anyway googled it and the recomendation is to eat bread, just what we can get down the easiest. So I ate some bread with butter and it still is there, having to water down all my food so much I don't think the bread was able to grab ahold of the pill and push it down. So left a message for the doctor about the pill and the fact that my voice has gotten really horse this past week. I also asked them about throat dialation, since I have had radiation twice there must be some serious scare tissue and maybe it could help. I could deffentally swallow better after the first time though treatment. Any thoughts or experiances throat dialiation?
Brad
I can't swallow any pills of size and capsules are out of the question. My problem is the muscles that push the food down the throat do not work in the mid section of my esophagus (sp?). This comes from the radiation and was found when they ran a tube down my throat to test muscle strength. The solution I found is to crush the pills into powder and mix in water. Some time delay pills can't be crushed so I can't take them. Capsules are opened and emptied into my mouth followed by water. Again some capsules "not to be chewed" are off the table for me. My doctor and pharmacist help with recommened alternatives a lot of the time - many are available as liquids.
I've had so many stuck I've lost count - I've even been able to stick my finger down my throat and dislodge them. Another thing I was taught is that if I hold my head in a certain position when I swallow (I turn left and lower head) then I have a bit more strength getting the stuff on its way (takes yet another test to find this).
Took lots of tests and trial and error - good luck with his.0 -
Harder Swallowingrmkbrad said:Time to whine some more,
Last night i was taking some capsule pills and one got stuck in my throat, I can still eat and breath but it does effect my swallowing some what, not that it is that great. Anyway googled it and the recomendation is to eat bread, just what we can get down the easiest. So I ate some bread with butter and it still is there, having to water down all my food so much I don't think the bread was able to grab ahold of the pill and push it down. So left a message for the doctor about the pill and the fact that my voice has gotten really horse this past week. I also asked them about throat dialation, since I have had radiation twice there must be some serious scare tissue and maybe it could help. I could deffentally swallow better after the first time though treatment. Any thoughts or experiances throat dialiation?
Brad
Brad,
I have to tell you, I could swallow and talk better after rads, before the neck dissection (I had dissection 9 months after rads ended). I can talk just fine, I just seem to have my "surprise puberty voice" more often than I did - it does irritate me to not know what my voice will sound like until I'm speaking. I also can eat more than enough food, I just have a tiny bit more difficulty sometimes. I am lucky - I probably only choke on food one or two times a week, and the episodes are mild and of short duration. I also find I have to clear my throat much more often now than I did before the operation. This really surprised me, since I assumed the lymph nodes were "outside", and my throat should not be affected. At first, my surgeon said it was probably residual inflammation - later, he just let me know that my vocal chords look fine now.
I had a dilation when they had me out to remove my PEG (a few months before the dissection), and it helped.
Like you, I'm sure - it kinda made me feel sad to think that I'd lost ground on the throat front. But even with the increase in "issues", I got clean scans in April(again, I was luckier than you - it took me 17 months to get a clean scan). Wow- 17 months - somehow, it simultaneously feels like it was a very long time AND a short time.
As for whining - most of us have been there - you don't seem to be whining to me - if you feel like you're whining - you got a right. Here's to having less to whine about soon.0
Discussion Boards
- All Discussion Boards
- 6 CSN Information
- 6 Welcome to CSN
- 121.6K Cancer specific
- 2.8K Anal Cancer
- 446 Bladder Cancer
- 308 Bone Cancers
- 1.6K Brain Cancer
- 28.5K Breast Cancer
- 395 Childhood Cancers
- 27.9K Colorectal Cancer
- 4.6K Esophageal Cancer
- 1.2K Gynecological Cancers (other than ovarian and uterine)
- 13K Head and Neck Cancer
- 6.3K Kidney Cancer
- 671 Leukemia
- 791 Liver Cancer
- 4.1K Lung Cancer
- 5.1K Lymphoma (Hodgkin and Non-Hodgkin)
- 234 Multiple Myeloma
- 7.1K Ovarian Cancer
- 56 Pancreatic Cancer
- 487 Peritoneal Cancer
- 5.4K Prostate Cancer
- 1.2K Rare and Other Cancers
- 534 Sarcoma
- 719 Skin Cancer
- 646 Stomach Cancer
- 190 Testicular Cancer
- 1.5K Thyroid Cancer
- 5.9K Uterine/Endometrial Cancer
- 6.3K Lifestyle Discussion Boards