Family

Sueberger
Sueberger Member Posts: 3
edited March 2014 in Caregivers #1
My husband is 42 years old and had been diagonosed with squamous cell carcinoma (anal cancer) in Sept 2003. We have two children - 4 years & 11 years. The effect of this is hitting our family. The four year old is extremely sensitive and does not like to be corrected and the eleven year old (yes it is that age as well) just loves being sassy and doesn't want to help at all. It is becoming harder and harder to keep going each day, trying to keep up with everyones schedules. In May, he had a fourteen hour surgery and now has a permanent colostomy and permanet illiostomy. He is currently undergoing chemo again. The issue I am having right now is he has lost his hair and he continues to loose weight. Right now he is weighing 112 lbs. He is having a difficult time eating as he is always feeling full. We have tried the nutritional supplements but lately it has been making him sick. I am trying to find support groups in St. Charles, MO. If anyone knows of any, please let me know.

Comments

  • layne34
    layne34 Member Posts: 17
    #2
    Sue,
    I am so sorry to hear about your husband. My prayers go out to your whole family. In regards to your children, it is often the case that children regress during times of crisis. I don't know if their school has a counselor or if you can get them into some other source of therapy. It would be helpful for them to have a safe place to work through their feelings, without having to worry about how it comes across at home.

    As to your husband's eating, it sounds similar to my husband's. His problem was fluid build up in his chest cavity. We are now able to drain it at home and he is beginning to be able to eat again (not enough to even maintain his weight yet, but he is increasing his food take every day). Perhaps you can check with his doctors to see if fluid is building up some where and displacing his stomach. My husband couldn't tolerate the sweetness of the supplement drinks, so we have him drinking chai tea lattes with extra protein powder. I found the concentrate, which I add milk to, in the tea section of the grocery store.
    I hope this helps.
    Peace, love, happiness and health,
    Layne
  • DebbyS
    DebbyS Member Posts: 21
    #3
    Hi Sue,
    My mother had NSC lung cancer and had taken chemo. The chemo alone made my mother lose her appetite. The things I could get her to eat was cottage cheese with fruit in it, mashed potaoes with gravy. I work in the health care field and one of my sales reps recommended to me a supplement drink made for just cancer/chemo patients. This drink is great! You can buy it online: www.walgreens.com under products, type in "Resource Support" in the box and it will take you to the product. It has 21 grams of protein and several other vitamins and minerals in each box. Every 7 grams of protein is equal to eating a ounce of meat, therefore drinking this is like eating 3 ounces of meat. My mother would drink these easily faster than eating food and she did not lose any weight at all. I also kept it from being boring too by making shakes with fresh fruits blended in. Layne34 is right you need to talk to your dr. about fluid build up in the lungs.
    Hope this helps.

    Love and Prayers
    Debby
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    #4
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