High calorie food

AnotherSurvivor

Like several others here, I struggled with getting down enough calories during treatment.  While hunting around on Amazon I just came across yet another nutritional shake, this one very high calorie.  It is by Nestle, and it's in their Boost line, but it is Very High Calorie Boost.  530 cals for a 8 oz box.  Not cheap, $37 for 24 boxes.  It only comes in vanilla, and it tastes about like all those shakes do.  Surprisingly for the cals, it was not any thicker than the other nutrition shakes.   It is very high in fat, 270 of the 530 are from fat, looks like mostly from corn syrup.  But, I am still struggling on some days to make 2,000 cals, and this moves me up pretty quickly.

CivilMatt

$37 for 24 boxes, ok

AS,

It is usually a temporary time while you deal with getting enough calories and try to not beat yourself up about where the calories come from.  For me it was smoothies doctored up with nuts and oil or tomatoes, cucumbers and olive oil.

Today I have a pretty balanced diet, take a few vitamins and do ok.

There was someone on her recently who had a very high calorie supplement, but my radiation brain (excuse) won’t let me remember what it was.

I lived mostly on smoothies for 7 months and those months just drift further away.

Matt

AnotherSurvivor

CivilMatt said:

$37 for 24 boxes, ok

AS,

It is usually a temporary time while you deal with getting enough calories and try to not beat yourself up about where the calories come from.  For me it was smoothies doctored up with nuts and oil or tomatoes, cucumbers and olive oil.

Today I have a pretty balanced diet, take a few vitamins and do ok.

There was someone on her recently who had a very high calorie supplement, but my radiation brain (excuse) won’t let me remember what it was.

I lived mostly on smoothies for 7 months and those months just drift further away.

Matt

God, I love this site.  I'm

God, I love this site.  I'm in drift mode right now, just logging 7 weeks post-treatment.  I've sort of worked out that I can expect at least a few more months of that.  I have a phone interview with the 'palliative care' team today who will pretty much tell me nothing about what to expect.  "It depends".  I get vastly more useful information here, and answers that don't assume I'm an idiot who benefits from the repetition of empty statements. 

Right now goal 1 is to get my 2,000 daily, which seems to actually be a good number for my metabolism.  I don't gain weight, but I don't lose either, and that is progress.  If I can get above 1,500 before 3PM, I experiment a bit.  Today will be tapioca pudding.  Yesterday was banana smooties in soy milk.  I'm looking for signs of taste, sometimes I get lucky.  For some reason bananas 'taste'.  The overwhelming salt taste is dissapating.  I was on a daily saline drip for weeks because of my embolisms.  Been totally tap water hydration for two weeks and things are improving.  Every day something is better: less phlegm, or more mouth moisture, or better sleep, something. 

It's a balance between 'it's better' and a 'normal life', which seems increasingly distant.  They hit me fast and hard when the tumor was discovered.  I walked in to have a suspected abscess drained and an hour later was biopsied and 'Stage III'.  That was 100 days ago.  HPV cancer seems to have taken them by surprise 10 years ago, but they've pretty well worked out the drill now.  Kaiser-Colorado even recruited a head and neck radiation oncologist from Anderson earlier this year.  

For all of that, post-treatment you are very much on your own

 

 

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caregiver wife

Hi-cal nutrition

Husband is on Two-Cal, 475 calorie balanced nutriant.  Made by Abbott, it is NOT available over the counter.  We are getting it from Apria Health because they have a supplier in our town and work with Medicare.  (Medicare pays for when dependant on feeding tube)  Mostly used by hospitals and nursing homes...

AnotherSurvivor

Close enough?

Close enough?

https://www.amazon.com/Twocal-Calorie-Protein-Nutrition-Vanilla/dp/B000AS1LKA#customerReviews

Sprint Car Dude

Diet

Protein and Fiber. They are your life blood right now. Or just empty calories are better than nothing!. I am 3 months out from treatment and still struggle with foods too gain weight. Your body is really fighting a battle inside! Feed it.

candyshapiro

If I take heavier pain meds

If I take heavier pain meds will it be easier for me to eat? Struggling today.

AnotherSurvivor

Where are you in treatment?

Where are you in treatment?  I was lucky, was pain free, just took one tylenol to knock down a fever.  My loss of weight wasn't so much pain related as just a general fight with mucus, no interest, felt like crap.  I also lost most of my weight during weeks 5 - 7 (of 7), at least a pound per day.  I was just hanging on for the end, hoping things would turn around.   I ended up getting daily saline infusions to fight dehydration, and that helped big time.  There is a form of saline drip that has added dextose.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intravenous_sugar_solution

But they will be reluctant to let you live on it.  It can mess you up pretty bad down the road.  In 5 weeks of IV I think I got a total of 5 liters, and I'm a 6' 180lb formerly athletic male.  

 After radiation stopped I started being able to get stuff down without gagging, and by week 2 post I was up to 2,000 calories.  It does get easier when the pounding stops.

Just saw my ENT today, he said I am having a fairly standard recovery.  I'm 8 weeks post, struggling with drymouth and weird taste.  But... every day something is better.  I think I will see something like 'normal' again, but I am beginning to believe the folks that say it will take a year.  

Oh, and if it's not obvious, I did not get a PEG tube.  It made is rougher during 5-7 and my radiation oncol regreted that, but I'm total swallowing without problem at 8 weeks post.    

rsp

candyshapiro said:

If I take heavier pain meds

If I take heavier pain meds will it be easier for me to eat? Struggling today.

Heavier pain meds

My husband is 9 weeks post radiation and he struggles every day with eating.  He is on heavy pain meds and it doesn't seem to make a difference.  He takes Dilaudid every 3 hrs, is on a Fent. patch, and takes 9 Gabapentin a day.  He can only get down milkshakes, and it takes him all day to get one down!  He does swish with Lydocaine (which numbs his mouth) several times while he is eating.  That is the ONLY thing that gives him a little relief.  THat would be my suggestion if you aren't already swishing with it.

Good luck.  It is a daily struggle.  I worry that my husband is 9 weeks out and still struggling with eating as well as nausea.  However, they say everyone is different...

candyshapiro

AnotherSurvivor said:

Where are you in treatment?

Where are you in treatment?  I was lucky, was pain free, just took one tylenol to knock down a fever.  My loss of weight wasn't so much pain related as just a general fight with mucus, no interest, felt like crap.  I also lost most of my weight during weeks 5 - 7 (of 7), at least a pound per day.  I was just hanging on for the end, hoping things would turn around.   I ended up getting daily saline infusions to fight dehydration, and that helped big time.  There is a form of saline drip that has added dextose.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intravenous_sugar_solution

But they will be reluctant to let you live on it.  It can mess you up pretty bad down the road.  In 5 weeks of IV I think I got a total of 5 liters, and I'm a 6' 180lb formerly athletic male.  

 After radiation stopped I started being able to get stuff down without gagging, and by week 2 post I was up to 2,000 calories.  It does get easier when the pounding stops.

Just saw my ENT today, he said I am having a fairly standard recovery.  I'm 8 weeks post, struggling with drymouth and weird taste.  But... every day something is better.  I think I will see something like 'normal' again, but I am beginning to believe the folks that say it will take a year.  

Oh, and if it's not obvious, I did not get a PEG tube.  It made is rougher during 5-7 and my radiation oncol regreted that, but I'm total swallowing without problem at 8 weeks post.    

I am seven days out of

I am seven days out of surgery and was doing much better eating three days ago. Maybe residual steroids and all that goes into you in the hospital. My first post op visit is March 8th when I will find out if I need radiation and the final pathology report. I was feeling confident yesterday and stopped taking even extra strenghth Tylenol but huge mistake. Ate very little all day and lost another pound. That makes 6lb. in 7 days. Now at 106 I can't afford much more. Last night I took Tylenol with Codeine and it was better but it was late at night and I was too exhausted to struggle any further with food. Today I am going to give in and try the oxy and see if I can eat better. Mucous became a huge issue and I am not on radiation but when I called the swallowing specialist she said that is the healing process and I needed to rinse and try to get up as much as possible before trying to eat. Anything that has dairy also adds to the wealth of mucous in my mouth. I saw one comment on lydocaine swish to help with eating. Not sure if that has to come from a doctors orders. I also tried sparkling water with lemon to help reduce the phlegm. Alot of work to just barely eat. Hoping with more success from the oxy. I was hoping to take no narcotics but it doesn't seem to look that way today.

AnotherSurvivor

The muscus is from the abused

The muscus is from the abused tissue, and does in time subside, but I've heard consistently it is the worst side effect.  Certainly made me miserable at its peak.  I used a suction pump to keep up from week 4 til today, post week 8.    I both bought my own, and got a prescription from my oncol for a rental from Apria - $4 per month.

Hydration can help a lot, and if you are not getting down around 30 oz of fluid per day you are going to get in trouble.  I thought milk was kicking up my mucus, but I've have found that it was actually the corn syrup in the nutrititional shakes that was the cause.  Even whole 100% milk is thinner than my thinnest shake, and 8oz of milk is 160 calories.

Drugs... didn't take any, but I highly doubt that you are going to turn into a junkie.  Get thru the next two weeks.  You will be amazed at your progress when you look back.  You do recover from this.

candyshapiro

AnotherSurvivor said:

The muscus is from the abused

The muscus is from the abused tissue, and does in time subside, but I've heard consistently it is the worst side effect.  Certainly made me miserable at its peak.  I used a suction pump to keep up from week 4 til today, post week 8.    I both bought my own, and got a prescription from my oncol for a rental from Apria - $4 per month.

Hydration can help a lot, and if you are not getting down around 30 oz of fluid per day you are going to get in trouble.  I thought milk was kicking up my mucus, but I've have found that it was actually the corn syrup in the nutrititional shakes that was the cause.  Even whole 100% milk is thinner than my thinnest shake, and 8oz of milk is 160 calories.

Drugs... didn't take any, but I highly doubt that you are going to turn into a junkie.  Get thru the next two weeks.  You will be amazed at your progress when you look back.  You do recover from this.

The drugs have made it

The drugs have made it possible and I was not taking in enough fluids for sure. My latest is some bleeding. THey said I could see some but if alot need to go to hospital. The question is why on day 8 and now it is 2am and what is too muc. Clearing my throuat of the mucous had a couple of clots and then mucous filled with blood. Way to vague on what is what on recovery. Any one have this experience please respond.