1/2 way through Treatment!

Fern60514
Fern60514 Member Posts: 8
in Head and Neck Cancer #1
Hi everyone, Just thought I'd post an update on my husband's progress. Tomorrow he will have completed 4 weeks of his 7 week course of tx. He is doing pretty good. Yesterday was the 2nd chemo, and his Oncologist decided to give him Carboplatin instead of the Cisplatin he had the first time, due to the ringing in his right ear. That made it a much easier day, since it only takes an hour for the Carboplatin, he also didin't need the Emend (even though I had just gotten the prescription filled...anyone need a 3 pack of Emend?)

He tolerated the Carobplatin pretty well, just woke up today looking flushed but doesn't have a temperature. (He may have one after watching the Bears game tonight..we''ll see...)

Taste is pretty much gone. He's still eating though. He is bound and determined to try and not use the PEG. He's drinking Ensure + through out the day too. Tonight I made him a cheese omelet and he ate all of it. He is done about 16 pounds since his surgery at the end of June.

He will have Carboplatin weekly until he is done with his rads near the end of this month. It's really challenging finding things he can tolerate to eat...any recommendations on what worked for you near to the end of tx....are most welcome. From what I've seen on this board it sounds like he may be just drinking the Ensure/Boosts..if that at the end?

Fern

Comments

  • Kent Cass
    Kent Cass Member Posts: 1,898 Member
    #2
    Fern
    Hey- the Bears are winning!!! Hope that helps the husband as much as it does me.
    29-months after my last rad, two Ensures is still my standard for breakfast every day. Might try pancakes with lotsa butter and whatever syrup he finds the most friendly. Keep the Nutrition going into him.

    kcass (61265)
  • Hondo
    Hondo Member Posts: 6,636 Member
    #3
    Kent Cass said:

    Fern
    Hey- the Bears are winning!!! Hope that helps the husband as much as it does me.
    29-months after my last rad, two Ensures is still my standard for breakfast every day. Might try pancakes with lotsa butter and whatever syrup he finds the most friendly. Keep the Nutrition going into him.

    kcass (61265)

    Hi Fern
    Sounds like he is doing well, keep up the good work caregiver he will love you even more after all of this is finished.

    Hondo
  • Skiffin16
    Skiffin16 Member Posts: 8,305 Member
    #4
    Ensure Plus
    Not sure of your actual regime', I had nine weeks in three week cycles, Cisplatin, Taxotere and 5FU. Then seven weeks of weekly Carboplatin and daily rads....

    If he wasn't having the rads his taste would probably come back much faster. But with them and if he's in week four, his hardest part is probably just beginning for the next six weeks or so...

    That is the period that I lost pretty much all taste and saliva. I didn't have the PEG, and survived mainly on the throat numbing pain meds, Ensure Plus, water and a few sliced peaches in light syrup to keep the throat muscles working.

    That lasted for a few weeks after rads when I started healing up some. I didn't have it bad, just peeling skin mainly. Throat pain wasn't terrible and only really bothered me when trying to swallow.

    He sounds like he's doing good and you both have a handle on things.

    Best,
    John
  • sweetblood22
    sweetblood22 Member Posts: 3,228
    #5
    1/2 way through.
    Hoping your husband continues to do pretty well.

    I was totally peg tube reliant very early on in my treatment, but I can list some things that others have said worked well for them.

    Egg drop soup
    Wanton soup
    Rebecca Katz's Magic Mineral Broth
    Smoothies (have some recipes on the superthread and on my blog)
    Poached eggs
    Grits
    Cream of wheat
    Cooked zucchini or any squash
    DelMonte peaches
    Congee/jook
    Avocado
    Creamed spinach
    Blended soups


    My brain is too fried at present to think of more. I know I have a huge list I posted somewhere, and people ask this question so often, I think I need to make up a list of foods and post it, and then reference it on the superthread, so my brain doesn't need to keep working that hard. I don't have that many brain cells left. Lol.
  • ToBeGolden
    ToBeGolden Member Posts: 695
    #6
    Half Way Point
    At the half-way point, some of the other patients I had met in the waiting room for my radiation (I did not have chemo) reached the end of their treatments and "graduated". I was sorta lost for weeks 5 and 6 (out of 8). Once there were less than 10 treatments left, I really could see the light at the end of the tunnel. And I became the inspiration for the patients just starting their radiation. Imagine that, I was an "inspiration".

    But then, my radiation was during July and August of 2010. The Bears were not playing. Not a single game. Maybe it wasn't the four more weeks of radiation that got me down after all, but the eight weeks until Bear Season started. Go Bears.
  • Jimbo55
    Jimbo55 Member Posts: 590 Member
    #7
    Half Way
    Fern, That's great, making it to the 1/2 way point. Finding anything tolerable to eat can be a problem. Taste seemed to change from week to week. Things that tasted good one week might be pretty blah the next. I never had a problem with protein shakes, ate a lot of rice porridge, steamed eggs, canned peaches in syrup were always good as was fruit cocktail. A root beer now and then would help cut through the mucous in the throat. Carbonated water (seltzer/club soda) also helps to 'clear out' the mouth/throat. I still usually drink carbonated water with my meals today.

    It doesn't pay to get upset with the Bears during the pre-season. Save that for the real thing next week!! Cheers.

    Jimbo
  • ratface
    ratface Member Posts: 1,337 Member
    #8
    Jimbo55 said:

    Half Way
    Fern, That's great, making it to the 1/2 way point. Finding anything tolerable to eat can be a problem. Taste seemed to change from week to week. Things that tasted good one week might be pretty blah the next. I never had a problem with protein shakes, ate a lot of rice porridge, steamed eggs, canned peaches in syrup were always good as was fruit cocktail. A root beer now and then would help cut through the mucous in the throat. Carbonated water (seltzer/club soda) also helps to 'clear out' the mouth/throat. I still usually drink carbonated water with my meals today.

    It doesn't pay to get upset with the Bears during the pre-season. Save that for the real thing next week!! Cheers.

    Jimbo

    Lots of Bears fans
    Bear chili, yogurt, cottage cheese, creamed soups, oatmeal and soggy cereals. Whats the aversion to the peg, if he has one in then just go ahead and use the thing.
  • buzz99
    buzz99 Member Posts: 404
    #9
    Half way
    It is great to get to the half-way mark. Don't be afraid to use that PEG. Buzz did not eat for a solid 4 months during treatment and he is eating just about everything now. He stopped using the tube about 2 months after treatment. As a result, he lost little weight and was able to heal from the radiation because he had adequate nutrition. Karen
  • Fern60514
    Fern60514 Member Posts: 8
    #10
    ratface said:

    Lots of Bears fans
    Bear chili, yogurt, cottage cheese, creamed soups, oatmeal and soggy cereals. Whats the aversion to the peg, if he has one in then just go ahead and use the thing.

    PEG
    Well, this is the deal with the PEG. The protocol where he is being treated (Loyola Univ Hospital) the way it was presented to us, was you have no choice, they would not begin treatment until the PEG was inserted. At our other option for tx, University of Chicago, the PEG is optional. They want you to eat and to be motivated to eat. If it becomes necessary during tx, then they'll put a PEG in...I also think your health and weight at the time you start is factored in. If he couln't have afforded to lose some weight..it would be different...he can drop 40 lbs and still be okay for his height.

    Anyway, I think he just didn't like having it be his choice at Loyola, its pretty much forced on you. Plus he finds it very uncomfortable. Through all he'd been through since his 1st surgery, I think he just fixated on this and its given him something to focus on.

    That saying, today was a rough day. The mucous is really starting to bother him and was making him nauseous. I did get him to drink an Ensure and eat some dry cereal and cocoa flavored almonds (??? go figure..but that's what he wanted...)

    I appreciate all the suggestions for foods to try. He may well end up using the PEG - time will tell!


    Fern
  • Hondo
    Hondo Member Posts: 6,636 Member
    #11
    Fern60514 said:

    PEG
    Well, this is the deal with the PEG. The protocol where he is being treated (Loyola Univ Hospital) the way it was presented to us, was you have no choice, they would not begin treatment until the PEG was inserted. At our other option for tx, University of Chicago, the PEG is optional. They want you to eat and to be motivated to eat. If it becomes necessary during tx, then they'll put a PEG in...I also think your health and weight at the time you start is factored in. If he couln't have afforded to lose some weight..it would be different...he can drop 40 lbs and still be okay for his height.

    Anyway, I think he just didn't like having it be his choice at Loyola, its pretty much forced on you. Plus he finds it very uncomfortable. Through all he'd been through since his 1st surgery, I think he just fixated on this and its given him something to focus on.

    That saying, today was a rough day. The mucous is really starting to bother him and was making him nauseous. I did get him to drink an Ensure and eat some dry cereal and cocoa flavored almonds (??? go figure..but that's what he wanted...)

    I appreciate all the suggestions for foods to try. He may well end up using the PEG - time will tell!


    Fern

    PEG Tube
    I did not use the PEG tube all through treatment but regret it now big time because of all the weight I lost. Use the tube, and may the force be with you. :) lol

    Hondo
  • Skiffin16
    Skiffin16 Member Posts: 8,305 Member
    #12
    Hondo said:

    PEG Tube
    I did not use the PEG tube all through treatment but regret it now big time because of all the weight I lost. Use the tube, and may the force be with you. :) lol

    Hondo

    PEG
    LOL, I just want to add that I didn't have a PEG either....wasn't a decision, just the way it all worked out.

    Some do just fine without one, for others and the majority, it's an absolute necessity.

    There have been a lot of heated discussions on the PEG and I'll just leave it for investigation of the many posts concerning.

    Best,
    John
  • Jimbo55
    Jimbo55 Member Posts: 590 Member
    #13
    buzz99 said:

    Half way
    It is great to get to the half-way mark. Don't be afraid to use that PEG. Buzz did not eat for a solid 4 months during treatment and he is eating just about everything now. He stopped using the tube about 2 months after treatment. As a result, he lost little weight and was able to heal from the radiation because he had adequate nutrition. Karen

    Chocolate Covered Almonds
    When I was shortly out of treatment (2-3 months) chocolate covered almonds also tasted pretty good to me!

    Food is medicine. If he's not getting enough nutrition from eating, it makes no sense not to use the PEG, especially since it is already in place. There are no bonus points for getting through this without using a PEG. As John put it, a few people can get by without the PEG, but for most its an absolute necessity. Cheers.

    Jimbo
  • jim and i
    jim and i Member Posts: 1,788 Member
    #14
    PEG
    Jim used his PEG from day one because food tasted really bad. His doctor also insisted he have it before treatment. Jim's taste had already went down the "toilet" so to speak and he had lost 40 lb. It is not just about calories, it is about nutrition. He needs lots of calories but also lots of protein and minerals and carbs. The nurse described it as running a marathon 24/7. Jim is 13 days out of treatment and still can't eat. OJ taste like horse poop, pickles and olives like mule poop. LOL His description. Hydration is also importaant to avoid infection and other problems. Jimwas able to drink water until after treatment, then it started to get salty. Now he said like ocean water so I have to give him extra in the tube. He is gaining back weight. Unfortunately he lost muscle weight during treatment and has gained fat weight back. Love handles are back.

    All this is to say, don't focus on PEG, focus on getting staying and getting strong with good stuff.

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