Question regarding food, chemo, and radiation after MIE

pam716

My father had MIE surgery 4 weeks ago. Is it possible to ever enjoy eating again? He used to live to eat and now only eats to live. He finds dinner really hard to muster any apetite for and will sometimes wake in the middle of the night to the food coming back up. Nothing tastes the same as it did pre-surgery. He never complains and is thankful for everyday he is alive but I know he finds the whole eating thing very difficult. The pathology report places him as a T3N1M0. They took tissue of the stomach during the surgery and now believe the real origin of the cancer is the stomach. His treatment options are now chemo and radiation. He meets with an oncologist on Friday. I know that there are people on this board with diabetes and heart disease but has anyone had kidney disease and went through chemo and radiation? My father is 70 years old with stage 3 kidney disease, heart disease, diabetes and PID. He has said in the past that if his kidneys fail he would not want to pursue dialysis. He would like to choose quality over quantity of life.

Hennings419

It takes time
Hi Pam, I can only speak for the after effects of the MIE surgery, and not the matters of chemo, radiation and other complications. I was stage 1, and had the MIE this past February. They got it early, and I didn't need any chemo or radiation. Prior to the surgery I was a healthy, active 59 year old man. I have since recovered very well. Almost everyone else on this board has had it FAR worse than me. I tell you all this to let you know that eating problems are very common. I had no appetite when I came home from the hospital, and had to force myself to drink nutritional supplements to try and keep my weight up. It felt like my old swallowing passageway has been altered (which it had), and I had to get used to swallowing all over again. It seemed like I wasn't producing enough saliva. When I was allowed to finally start eating real food again, nothing tasted right - for me it tasted too salty and metallic. These issues slowly went away. Today I can eat anything I could prior to the surgery - my appetite is normal, and my weight has stabilized.

I too have a problem with food coming back up if I'm not careful. I try not to eat several hours before going to bed, and we are fortunate to have an adjustable bed, so my upper body is raised about 20 degrees. This almost always helps. Hope you find this helpful, and God bless you for being there to help your father.
Regards,
Pete H.

Ericalynn

Eating gets easier
Pam,
My husband had surgery on 9-9-11. He too stated that food tasted funny. He complained a lot about everything tasting salty. That all went away. Yesterday was 10 weeks post-op, he is eating everything and not saying anything about food tasting funny or salty.
He started gaining weight after about 5 weeks post-op. He is six feet tall and was down to 135lbs today he is 145lbs.
4 weeks is not enough time to recover from this extensive surgery. With the MIE they are healed on the outside but the inside is still healing. John did not have to do post -op chemo so I cannot comment on that part.
Stay here on the board there is so much support here.
We are here for you
Erica
Wife of John
Diagnosis-T-3,N-1,M-0
Chemo/Rad-completed 7-11-11
MIE surgery with robotics, 9-9-11
29 lymph nodes & tumor-cancer free

TerryV

Things will improve....
I don't have experience with cancer beyond the EC, but can tell from an EC caregiver point of view - things will get better.

My husband, like Erica's, had surgery in early September. He had a THE, a bit more involved than the MIE, but not as much as the Ivor Lewis. It took a few weeks post surgery for things to get better. And I know we were both impatient for our "normal" to return.

Gosh, Erica - are we really 10 weeks out already? It doesn't (and yet does) seem that long ago that we are anxiously awaiting surgery results....

Nick still has some nausea, some limitations, but not many, on what he can eat or drink. Actually the biggest limitation for him is the inability to drink *while* eating. He misses that glass of milk with dinner.

If nothing further is going on, then the eating should even out given a bit of time. This dammed EC forces life changes that only time will resolve.

With prayers for your father and his supportive family!

Terry
Wife to Nick, age 48
dx T3N1M0 05/19/11
THE 09/08/11
Clean Path 09/13/11

Ericalynn

TerryV said:

Things will improve....
I don't have experience with cancer beyond the EC, but can tell from an EC caregiver point of view - things will get better.

My husband, like Erica's, had surgery in early September. He had a THE, a bit more involved than the MIE, but not as much as the Ivor Lewis. It took a few weeks post surgery for things to get better. And I know we were both impatient for our "normal" to return.

Gosh, Erica - are we really 10 weeks out already? It doesn't (and yet does) seem that long ago that we are anxiously awaiting surgery results....

Nick still has some nausea, some limitations, but not many, on what he can eat or drink. Actually the biggest limitation for him is the inability to drink *while* eating. He misses that glass of milk with dinner.

If nothing further is going on, then the eating should even out given a bit of time. This dammed EC forces life changes that only time will resolve.

With prayers for your father and his supportive family!

Terry
Wife to Nick, age 48
dx T3N1M0 05/19/11
THE 09/08/11
Clean Path 09/13/11

Forgot about the drinking with meals
I forgot to mention that John has figured out that just like Nick he cannot drink large amounts of fluids with a meal. He never was a milk drinker but always had a big glass of water with dinner and multiple cups of coffee in the morning. Too much fluid leaves no room for food. The eating gets better week-by-week. It just takes time.
Like Terry stated this EC is a battle but with support from this group it makes it easier. Hopefully your dad will feel better when you tell him that others have gone through the same thing and it does get better. John does not use a computer so he is not on the board but I tell him about what others are experiencing and it did seem to help ease the anxiety some days he felt like he was never going to feel better but he feels better now.
Wishing you and your dad the best
Keep posting and let us know how he is doing
Erica
PS
Terry-I know can you believe it has been 10 weeks, seems like yesterday but it also seems so long ago.