Having beer or a drink now and then.

icemantoo said:

My post last July 28 still holds.

 

 

Icemantoo

A glass of red wine every now and then is thought to be helpful... moderation is the key word.   For any medications, read the warning documents...  Both doctors and pharmacy people make silly statements at times...  How many times have people come in here saying their doctor told them they were cured with surgery, only to have Mets show up..?   In the end, each person has to make their own (informed) decision...

Ron

Darron said:

Decisions

It is a personal preference. I have had a few beers and a couple glasses of wine sonce October 2012. My doctor says moderation is the key. To be honest, since I am on Sutent, it tastes like crap anyway, so I have gotten used to not drinking. The biggest adjustment was at parties and in social settings I was so used to having a beer or drink in my hand. I can now out drink everyone at a party because I drink water only. It is my choice, and I do miss it a little now and then. Maybe if I go off Sutent it will taste better, bit for now, water is not a problem.

Add any soda to the list Sutent makes it taste like crap also. I think it is the carbonization.

I've said it all along. Pizza and beer didn't get me into this mess. I don't believe a lifestyle change is going to be the thing that saves my life. I'm going golfing today. You can place your bets as to whether I drink some beer. My blood work is done at least once a month. My kidney and liver function has always remained perfect. Should things change, then it will be a different story.

APny said:

I had a partial nephrectomy

I had a partial nephrectomy in March and didn't drink at all for quite a while. But then I started having a glass of red wine with dinner and it's nice

Most likely I will end up at Pizza King at least one night on the Isle of Man..  After all, they often sponsor a rider or two, by giving major discounts on food.  The beer will be extra...!

Cheers..!!

Ron - 14 more sleeps to go...!  

Laura76 said:

the things we worry about...

Lol. 

 

I'm four days post surgery for kidney removal and all I'm worried about is the fact I haven't yet had a bowel movement and should I eat the enchiladas my husband has just made... Lol.

 

Glad to know life will return to normal

 

I sure wouldn't be eating cheese yet or anything spicy.

Sorry! Lol.

Seriously. Bland, light, non-constipating foods until things are back to normal. Those pain meds are constipating. Canned fruits, white bread, low fat meat and not too much lots of water, low fat/fat free milk, some cereal, stay away from high fiber also until things stabilize. No cheese.

You may need a stool softener with some push to get things going. Senna Plus is a natural product with a little bit of push, not as much as milk of magnesia. Drink lots of water with it and walk a lot.

The fact you want to eat it, is pretty darn good news.

But then everyone on here told me not to go to Vegas 2 weeks after my nephrectomy, and I did it anyways and I lived. I even had a pretty good time.

Todd

todd121 said:

No!

I sure wouldn't be eating cheese yet or anything spicy.

Sorry! Lol.

Seriously. Bland, light, non-constipating foods until things are back to normal. Those pain meds are constipating. Canned fruits, white bread, low fat meat and not too much lots of water, low fat/fat free milk, some cereal, stay away from high fiber also until things stabilize. No cheese.

You may need a stool softener with some push to get things going. Senna Plus is a natural product with a little bit of push, not as much as milk of magnesia. Drink lots of water with it and walk a lot.

The fact you want to eat it, is pretty darn good news.

But then everyone on here told me not to go to Vegas 2 weeks after my nephrectomy, and I did it anyways and I lived. I even had a pretty good time.

Todd

Sorry Todd but I disagree with your culinary choices.  Canned fruits are full of sugar. White bread is processed and worthless. Meat should always be eaten with sufficient fat to digest it properly.  Lean meats - even though this has been the "mantra" for decades - are not optimal because there is insufficient fat for healthy digestion. I do agree with lots of water though. Low fat foods - of any kind - are full of excess carbohydrates (i.e. sugars). 

I agree that constipation can be dealt with using Senna-R or Senna-Plus.  However, the routine needs to be defined.  Start with 2 tabs in the morning.  If no results after two days, increase to 2 tabs at night as well (i.e. 2 tabs twice a day).  If still no joy, add Miralax or similar product.

-N

todd121 said:

Food choices

Great seeing you Neil!

This was only what I ate for the first week after surgery before my stomach/bowels had returned to normal. I did select canned fruits with fruit juice only and drained it, but I found fresh fruits difficult for me right after surgery. Also, animal fats, for me, are constipating, and eating animal fat was not a good idea for me at that time. It would have no doubt nauseated me.

Don't get why you say all low fat foods have excess carbohydrates? Low fat, low sodium turkey, for example, has almost no carbohydrates. As does nonfat/lowfat cottage cheese. I suppose you meant lowfat processed foods like lowfat yogurt which has added sugar?

This diet worked well for me the first week after surgery when my bowels weren't moving.

I was not suggesting this as a permanent diet.

I did use the Senna Plus the way you recommend and it did work for me. Took 4-5 days, though.

Todd

P.S. By the way, my dietician recommended white bread for a person on a renal diet, which surprised me. I ate it that particular week just to avoid too much fiber. White bread is recommended for people with renal insufficiency because of the reduced phosphorous I believe (or maybe it was another mineral...). Normall I eat a whole grain bread and love it.

 

Hi Todd.  Very interesting info.  Thanks.  However, most if not all low fat foods would taste like cardboard unless some sort of carb (usually, but not always sugar or HFCS) is added to them.  Unfortunately, due to major loop-holes in the laws about labeling it is easy for the producer not to list all the ingredients - especially sugars.  This is often the reason that the "recommended" portion on the label is so small and not indicative of the amount that one normally would ingest.

And yes, virtually all processed foods are highly suspect and really should be avoided.  That Low Fat Sodium Turkey would be considered processed and likely packaged with a bunch of weird chemicals that neither you nor I have ever heard of...

Regardless, it sounds like your temporary diet did the trick for you and that is all that really counts.

todd121 said:

Thanks

I didn't realize they get away with not listing all the ingredients, but it doesn't surprise me.

As much as possible I'm staying away from processed foods now. I'm cooking at home and starting with raw ingredients, organic where possible. The biggest part of this is because I'm trying to limit protein and salt, and this seems to be the only way I really can control what's in the food.

I do slip up once in awhile and I have a meal outside once or twice a week.

I've noticed that the low fat or nonfat yogurt always has a lot of sugar in it. So I buy plain nonfat yogurt and add my own fresh fruit in.

With them leaving things off the label, that makes it even harder for us to track what we are eating.

It's great to see you posting. Hope you're feeling better.

Todd

Hi Todd, those diet changes sound a lot like what I'm encouraging with my husband. This is SO hard to do even when cooking from raw ingredients. Added sodium to raw meats (chicken), etc presents such difficult challenges. My husband is 47, Stage T3a, almost 1 year post radical, and has changed his diet around almost 100% (pizza and beer in moderation, of course). The issue with yogurt you mention really bothers me, so I buy plain yogurt as unprocessed as possible (even plain yogurt gets additives a lot too!) and add small amounts of honey and a teeny tiny drop of high quality vanilla extract for flavor. My 8 year old love it this way. Best of luck to everyone making changes in their diets, it CAN be done. If my husband can do it, anyone can!!!

NanoSecond said:

Doing much better

Thanks so much Todd.  Yes, I am doing much, much better.  But that is only because Sutent, Inlyta, MedImmune's anti-PDL1, and Cabozantinib all had failed me; while - mercifully - Afinitor is working to keep my liver mets in check.  It was my last drug of resort.

To be honest I have been given a wonderful reprive of unknown duration.  At this point I am pain free and only recently free of all pain medications. The pain meds (morphine) had kept me from posting very much these past few weeks.

My big issue is now to put back on some weight.  Thanks to being hospitalized 3 times I had been filled with lots fluids both in my lungs and abdomen.  What I did not know was that this fluid was masking the fact that I had actually lost over 20 lbs.  I only realized this when I finally got rid of all the excess fluid - and my weight dropped virtually overnight from 145 lbs to 123 lbs.  Rather scary.

At this point I am very slowly gaining back that weight (and yes, I am doing it by violating some of my own dietary guidelines regarding excess carbs).  Today I was up to 129 lbs...

I really appreciate your concern.

Best wishes,

-Neil

I'm glad Affinitor is helping. Morphine seems to be a necessary evil at times.

I'm amazed how much fluid weight I can put on when I don't control my salt intake (for example) and am not exercising. When I get off my diet and am eating too much salt and not exercising, and then start back I can drop 7 pounds in just a matter of a few days. I'm sure that's fluid. I don't think I can lose fat that fast.

Thanks for the update.

Best wishes to you Neil.

Todd