Eating tips after completion of chemo and radiation

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pam716
pam716 Member Posts: 24
in Esophageal Cancer #1
My father just completed post op chemo-radiation on Friday. Any tips for increasing calories and desire to eat. He did have mouth sores from the chemo which in all probability were also present in the esphogus. Currently he has no desire for food and everything either tastes like nothing or tastes terrible. He goes to the oncologist tomorrow and I am going to have my mom ask about something to increase appetite but if you could let me know any tried and true methods that worked for you that would be great. For some reason he has not been able to tolerate the boost lately. It seems to go right through him. The boost is the only thing that this is happening with.

Thanks

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  • Ginny_B
    Ginny_B Member Posts: 532
    #2
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    Ahhhh, I was just going to
    Ahhhh, I was just going to say Boost with added yogurt. My mom wanted things that didn't stick. She likes watery Cream of Wheat, Jell-O with cottage cheese, potato or macaroni salad. She especially liked green salads with veggies and avocado. She likes soup. If she takes a break-through pain pill 30 to 60 minutes before eating she didn't feel as much pain. She also requires lots of water to wash down each bite.

    I add butter, cinnamon, and raisins to the boiling water before putting in Cream of Wheat. Then I'd make it more watery with added milk. Sometimes she'll ask for dry cereal, but it has to be made very soggy.
  • Daisylin
    Daisylin Member Posts: 365
    #3
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    food
    There have been many posts about this very topic, and lots of great answers. I tried to find some recent ones to copy over here, but could not find any. If you search, you will find them though, Also, there is a link to recipes on the 'caregiver' page of the CSN site. However, here are a few bits of advice.....

    Get a blender or magic bullet. Make smoothies with Carnation instant breakfast, whey protein powder, milk, ice cream and fresh or frozen fruit, yogurt or any combination of those. As an alternative, not so healthy, McDonald's (large) milkshakes have almost 1,000 calories.

    Make home made cream soups, made with heavy cream!

    Scrambled eggs with lots of butter, everything with lots of butter or cream!!

    Also, there is a product called "bene calorie" (not sure if I spelled it right) but it's basically a tasteless powder that you can mix into any food to add calories. You can find it at many health food stores or pharmacies.

    Puddings, yogurt, ice cream, cereal with at least 2% milk, bananas, pasta with cream sauce...... I found that reading the grocery labels the opposite way of what we are used to doing helped. Look for higher calorie brands, not the fat free, or lite versions of products.

    I know that everything tastes terrible, my husband all but stopped eating, and for us, the best treatment for that was to get a j-tube. It helped so very much, and the pressure was off to constantly eat, eat, eat, even though the thought of eating made him sick to his stomach.....

    Hope that helps, I'm sure others will chime in with their own suggestions..
    Chantal
  • Ginny_B
    Ginny_B Member Posts: 532
    #4
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    Daisylin said:

    food
    There have been many posts about this very topic, and lots of great answers. I tried to find some recent ones to copy over here, but could not find any. If you search, you will find them though, Also, there is a link to recipes on the 'caregiver' page of the CSN site. However, here are a few bits of advice.....

    Get a blender or magic bullet. Make smoothies with Carnation instant breakfast, whey protein powder, milk, ice cream and fresh or frozen fruit, yogurt or any combination of those. As an alternative, not so healthy, McDonald's (large) milkshakes have almost 1,000 calories.

    Make home made cream soups, made with heavy cream!

    Scrambled eggs with lots of butter, everything with lots of butter or cream!!

    Also, there is a product called "bene calorie" (not sure if I spelled it right) but it's basically a tasteless powder that you can mix into any food to add calories. You can find it at many health food stores or pharmacies.

    Puddings, yogurt, ice cream, cereal with at least 2% milk, bananas, pasta with cream sauce...... I found that reading the grocery labels the opposite way of what we are used to doing helped. Look for higher calorie brands, not the fat free, or lite versions of products.

    I know that everything tastes terrible, my husband all but stopped eating, and for us, the best treatment for that was to get a j-tube. It helped so very much, and the pressure was off to constantly eat, eat, eat, even though the thought of eating made him sick to his stomach.....

    Hope that helps, I'm sure others will chime in with their own suggestions..
    Chantal

    My mom also liked egg salad,
    My mom also liked egg salad, but w/o the bread. And don't be surprised if they love something for 4 days, then can't stand the fast of it later. Happens a lot with my mom.

    Mom also like stewed prunes.

    She can't tolerate any meat or chicken. She said it's too hard to swallow.
  • pam716
    pam716 Member Posts: 24
    #5
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    Ginny_B said:

    My mom also liked egg salad,
    My mom also liked egg salad, but w/o the bread. And don't be surprised if they love something for 4 days, then can't stand the fast of it later. Happens a lot with my mom.

    Mom also like stewed prunes.

    She can't tolerate any meat or chicken. She said it's too hard to swallow.

    thank you
    Thank you Ginny and Chantal. We have to watch my Dad's potassium level because of stage III kidney disease but I think at this point anything we can get him to eat we should feed him. Right now he is not eating any vegetables. He will eat oatmeal, soup with rice, cereal. He tries and I know is really hard but it is really scary to see a loved one continue to loose weight.

    Ginny,

    Has eating gotten any better for your Mom? How long has it been since she finished chemo and radiation treatment
  • ifalk
    ifalk Member Posts: 29
    #6
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    Hi Pam
    My husband Jarrell
    Hi Pam
    My husband Jarrell took a round about way with his treatments ( a personal choice we all made) he did Chemo first and then after his scan the tumer had shrunk so he started radiation along with chemo. He did real well with that till the last week He stoped eating and went down to 116 pounds. He said it hurt more than the taste. He finished 28 radiations 3 weeks ago today. He is still doing chemo. He would have a few days of eating good and drinking carnation then would go few days with nothing. He is fighting the feeding tube for some reason. when he has his good eating days he eats jello, pudding made with whole milk and he loves poached eggs. It tears me up to watch him starving, he also went thru a egg salad stage now he won't touch it. The medicine they gave him to stimulate his appatite did not work. I think his is more the pain when he swallows. I don't know why he has good days and then other days it hurts. The doctors tell us this will pass. He also get hydrated often and I think that helps his pain when he swallows as seems like he can eat after the hydration. This prob is not much help, I just know for me it helps when I read how others are handling things. wishing you lots of luck with your dad
  • jgwright
    jgwright Member Posts: 242
    #7
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    ifalk said:

    Hi Pam
    My husband Jarrell
    Hi Pam
    My husband Jarrell took a round about way with his treatments ( a personal choice we all made) he did Chemo first and then after his scan the tumer had shrunk so he started radiation along with chemo. He did real well with that till the last week He stoped eating and went down to 116 pounds. He said it hurt more than the taste. He finished 28 radiations 3 weeks ago today. He is still doing chemo. He would have a few days of eating good and drinking carnation then would go few days with nothing. He is fighting the feeding tube for some reason. when he has his good eating days he eats jello, pudding made with whole milk and he loves poached eggs. It tears me up to watch him starving, he also went thru a egg salad stage now he won't touch it. The medicine they gave him to stimulate his appatite did not work. I think his is more the pain when he swallows. I don't know why he has good days and then other days it hurts. The doctors tell us this will pass. He also get hydrated often and I think that helps his pain when he swallows as seems like he can eat after the hydration. This prob is not much help, I just know for me it helps when I read how others are handling things. wishing you lots of luck with your dad

    Boy, I understand...
    Finished my chemo/rads last week, and much food has a "chemical" smell and taste. I know it is my mouth, not the foods. And stuff hurts going down. I can feel the peristalsis trying to push food past the tumor. And it is no fun. So, I'm looking for options. And jello...

    --Jerry
  • cher76
    cher76 Member Posts: 292
    #8
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    My husband went through
    My husband went through bouts of not being able to get things down. He had a problem with things that were lumpy or sticky, so Mac and cheese was out as well as egg salad. I bought a Ninja blender early on and it really helped. I found a recepie for butternut squash soup in a Cancerwise magazine that he enjoyed and had gave him several servings of veggies. I also made him shakes out of carnation dry milk, Jay Robb chocolate whey protien powder, peanut butter, chocolate syrup and vanilla ice cream. Lots of calories and he loved the peanut butter chocolate taste. Soft boiled eggs were another favorite as the slid down easily. It was always strange what would and wouldn't go down. When he had nausea from chemo he found he could eat the real thin ginger cookies by chewing them up really good so they kind if made a paste in his mouth and then could swallow them down. The ginger helped with the nausea as well. When he was having a better time getting things down, about the only meat he could get down was surprisingly pork tenderloin. We would lightly brown it on the stove and then finish it in the oven to about 140 degrees, then pour an apricot chipotle sauce on it. He found that saucy things went down better, so we also made lots of fish with different sauces on it. Baked potatoes stuffed with BBQ meat finely chopped and loaded with butter, sour cream, and BBQ sauce was another favorite. We used lots of butter and whole milk to add extra calories. Hope these ideas help.
    Cheryl
    Wife of Rickie, dx stage IV EC, Oct. 2010
    Mets to bones and brain
    Lost the battle, Jan. 4, 2012
  • jgwright
    jgwright Member Posts: 242
    #9
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    cher76 said:

    My husband went through
    My husband went through bouts of not being able to get things down. He had a problem with things that were lumpy or sticky, so Mac and cheese was out as well as egg salad. I bought a Ninja blender early on and it really helped. I found a recepie for butternut squash soup in a Cancerwise magazine that he enjoyed and had gave him several servings of veggies. I also made him shakes out of carnation dry milk, Jay Robb chocolate whey protien powder, peanut butter, chocolate syrup and vanilla ice cream. Lots of calories and he loved the peanut butter chocolate taste. Soft boiled eggs were another favorite as the slid down easily. It was always strange what would and wouldn't go down. When he had nausea from chemo he found he could eat the real thin ginger cookies by chewing them up really good so they kind if made a paste in his mouth and then could swallow them down. The ginger helped with the nausea as well. When he was having a better time getting things down, about the only meat he could get down was surprisingly pork tenderloin. We would lightly brown it on the stove and then finish it in the oven to about 140 degrees, then pour an apricot chipotle sauce on it. He found that saucy things went down better, so we also made lots of fish with different sauces on it. Baked potatoes stuffed with BBQ meat finely chopped and loaded with butter, sour cream, and BBQ sauce was another favorite. We used lots of butter and whole milk to add extra calories. Hope these ideas help.
    Cheryl
    Wife of Rickie, dx stage IV EC, Oct. 2010
    Mets to bones and brain
    Lost the battle, Jan. 4, 2012

    Thanks Cheryl
    We'll look into these. Ginger, hummmm...

    --JErry
  • JReed
    JReed Member Posts: 428
    #10
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    jgwright said:

    Thanks Cheryl
    We'll look into these. Ginger, hummmm...

    --JErry

    Thin gingerbread cookies
    I found this brand for Don and he likes the gingerbread, mint, and almond types:

    Anna's - they are in a very small box and I found them on the top shelf at a local grocery store. Let me know if you cannot find them and I'll send some to you.

    Judy
  • Wife of patient 50378
    Wife of patient 50378 Member Posts: 124
    #11
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    Clam chowder, Chicken Noodle soup, Flan, Tapioca
    I constantly make soups. Easy Clam chowder: real whipping cream (heavy), clams cut up (tiny), potatoes(also cut very small) bacon and or bacon grease for added flavor, dash of salt & pepper and a little grated onion and garlic sauteed in butter for taste.

    Butter Pecan ensure 350 calories, added to heavy cream milk shakes.

    Mash potatoes made with heavy cream, Mac & chees made with heavy cream. I think heavy whipping cream is 70 calories per tbs.

    Dan became so tired of water. I bought flavored water & crystal light strictly for hydration.
    He sprinkes whey protein on all of his food and in his coffee.
    Sal
  • Tina Blondek
    Tina Blondek Member Posts: 1,500 Member
    #12
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    Food for Thought
    Hi Pam and welcome to you and your dad. I was a caregiver for my dad, Ray. He passed in March 2010 from ec with mets to the liver. I still do come here often to help people like you and your dad from my experiences. I will agree with everyone about the liquids. Watch out with the Mcd's milkshakes..they tend to be too thick and hard to swallow. If you do get these water them done some first. They are high in calorie. You can also ask his dr. about an appetite increaser. Chicken or vegetable broth, mashed potatoes, creamed soups without meat or veggies, make him protein drinks, the boost and ensure tend to go right through because of their heavy fat content, same thing happened to my dad. Flavored water is a must to stay hydrated. If all else fails....the feeding tube is where you will have to go. It is not a bad thing, really. This way he will be getting all the food and nutrition he needs without having to worry about an appetite or having to swallow. Hope this helps. We are always here for you. Ask and it will be answered. Keep in touch, you are doing a great job taking care of your dad!
    Tina in Va

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