Couple of Eating questions

CrimsonRacing
CrimsonRacing Member Posts: 27 Member
in Head and Neck Cancer #1
After 16 months,I had my Esophageal Dilation last Tuesday.........I can feel a difference when eating some soft foods and I can finally swallow tablets and pills again.

Questions:

1-when I try to eat mashed potatoes or grits,both feel abrasive on my throat lining.Has anyone experienced this with these 2 foods and possibly suggest other foods you have had luck swallowing without problems?

2-How am I gonna be able to wear dentures while still experiencing severe dry mouth? I use Biotene and other products with not alot of success.I am going soon to have my final soft alignment and then hard alignment hopefully before Christmas.

any opinions or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Richard..........

Comments

  • sweetblood22
    sweetblood22 Member Posts: 3,228
    #2
    Richard
    That's great that you can swallow pills again. I cannot swallow pills. Cannot get them past my stricture. Mashed potatoes and grits were hard to eat for me too, still doesn't feel that great on my tongue. Sweet potatoes or yams, feel better than regular potatoes, and instant fine ground polenta, feels better than grits.

    So glad to see that you are finally able to eat a some!

    Things I have found I can swallow with relative ease, oatmeal, cooked with twice the amount of liquid, for twice the amount of time. Cooked butternut squash, cooked spinach, egg drop soup, poached eggs, soft rice, cooked carrots, apple sauce or apple butter, ricotta cheese, wanton soup, home made bone stock, magic mineral broth. Here's some links:


    REBECCA KATZ MAGIC MINERAL BROTH


    CHICKEN STOCK RECIPE

    BEEF STOCK

    VEGETABLE STOCK

    ROASTED VEGETABLE STOCK

    REBECCA KATZ MAGIC MINERAL BROTH

    RICE PUDDING

    BASIC CONGEE

    CRUSTLESS QUICHE


    MASHED CAULIFLOWER


    MASHED SWEET POTATOES



    CRUSTLESS QUICHE


    Might be more links and ideas here, some are repeated, I think sorry. My iPad isn't fully set up and stuff isn't totally switched from my iPhone yet:


    HOW TO START EATING AGAIN




    Not sure about the dentures. I would talk to your dentist about it. I know my dentist said that I would not be a good candidate for denture because of my severe dry mouth and because of what radiation did to my mouth.
  • Hondo
    Hondo Member Posts: 6,636 Member
    #3
    Hi Richard

    I have problems with grits but not with mashed potatoes, as I use a lot of gravy when eating mashed potatoes. I can’t swallow pills as they just get stuck and I have a hard time trying to get them back up again. I too like Sweet don’t have any problems with Oatmeal and stuff like that, also can’t eat meat as I have a very hard time chewing swallowing it.

    I been trying to get my ENT to do a dilation but she is concerned with all my radiation and because I can’t open my mouth much I will have too many problems, so I guess it is this way for now. Glad to see you are doing a lot better.

    Take care
    Hondo
  • tommyodavey
    tommyodavey Member Posts: 728 Member
    #4
    Soft Foods
    Being fairly new here I don't have as many good suggestions as the others do. What worked for me was Campbells Chicken with Rice soup and I separately made more rice in my rice cooker and added that to the soup so it was very filling.

    Someone here mentioned canned light peaches and I thank them for it.

    Scrambled eggs but very moist. Either don't overcook them or add a little butter so they slide down.

    Ramen noodle soup.

    For dinner I'd make Mac N Cheese and add much more milk and butter to make them slippery. Then for the veggie I would have a can of spinach and eat the whole thing. For some odd reason I've loved canned spinach since I was a kid and it is one of the power foods we need to heal. Fresh would be better but I'm lazy and like the canned. My body craved it so badly after two weeks of almost nothing.

    Some mornings instead of eggs I would make Cream of Wheat and you know I'm going to say it...add more liquid, either more water or my favorite, milk and chocolate syrup for taste.

    That is about all I ate for four weeks. Even now when I can eat whatever I want I still have chicken with rice soup for lunch. Just got to love it and now my wife is hooked on it.

    I wish you the best.

    TOD
  • Ingrid K
    Ingrid K Member Posts: 813
    #5
    dentures
    Hi Richard... i am maybe a week or two ahead of you with my dentures... waiting now for the final fitting. I mentioned the lack of saliva concerns to my dentist and he said it may actually be easier for me to keep the dentures in with less saliva... that seemed to be true when we were making the impressions... after the 3 minutes were up he could barely get the molds out...he really had to apply some pressure to get the top one out and he said that was good because I shouldn't need to use any denture cream. Well, we'll see when I actually get them.

    I haven't had teeth in my mouth since January of 2011, so no matter what the dentures will feel weird. I think it will just take time to get used to them.

    p.s. my dentist is my cousin so he's not giving me a line of B.S.
  • MarineE5
    MarineE5 Member Posts: 1,034 Member
    #6
    tommyodavey said:

    Soft Foods
    Being fairly new here I don't have as many good suggestions as the others do. What worked for me was Campbells Chicken with Rice soup and I separately made more rice in my rice cooker and added that to the soup so it was very filling.

    Someone here mentioned canned light peaches and I thank them for it.

    Scrambled eggs but very moist. Either don't overcook them or add a little butter so they slide down.

    Ramen noodle soup.

    For dinner I'd make Mac N Cheese and add much more milk and butter to make them slippery. Then for the veggie I would have a can of spinach and eat the whole thing. For some odd reason I've loved canned spinach since I was a kid and it is one of the power foods we need to heal. Fresh would be better but I'm lazy and like the canned. My body craved it so badly after two weeks of almost nothing.

    Some mornings instead of eggs I would make Cream of Wheat and you know I'm going to say it...add more liquid, either more water or my favorite, milk and chocolate syrup for taste.

    That is about all I ate for four weeks. Even now when I can eat whatever I want I still have chicken with rice soup for lunch. Just got to love it and now my wife is hooked on it.

    I wish you the best.

    TOD

    Scrambled eggs
    TOD,

    May I make a suggestion to go along with your eggs. It may sound strange, but I use Sugar Free Log Cabin Syrup to help make my scrambled eggs slide down easier. It is a pretty tasty syrup as well, or at least taste the same as the sugary type.

    My Best to You and Everyone Here

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