Weight Loss

Dear HullEng, during my chemotherapy I found my appetite became suppressed and I instinctively found myself eating much smaller meals than normal and this led to significant weight loss. I eat several small meals a day now. You have to get back into the habit of eating again and large meals put a strain on the digestive system. It’s important to try to maintain a stable body weight even if you do not get back to where you were before diagnosis. Have you been in touch with a hospital dietician, as they can give you specific advice for your parents condition, I have one for my dialysis dependant kidney failure caused by my cancer and she is very helpful. My weight dropped too low recently and she paid me a visit to put me back on the right path.

best wishes 

jane

Hi HullEng and a second welcome to the Online Community, although I am sorry to see you finding us and so sorry to hear about your parent.

A cancer diagnosis and treatment can bring a lot of stress, confusion and questions and yes, weight loss can be attributed to many things but not knowing all the circumstances I feel its a a guess and as Jane has said, talk with the hospital team as they will have a better understanding with regards to the reasons behind this.

This is a hard time but talking with people who are on the same journey can help a lot so can I direct you to the links below to some of our very supportive group as this will open up your concerns to a wider audience who know exactly what you are going through at the moment.

Careers Only, Friends and Family and our Supporting Someone with Incurable Cancer groups are good places where you can connect with others support family through their cancer journey but more importantly the carers care for each other.

Just follow the link above, hitting ‘Join the Group’ tab just under the main group name, then go to the 'Start a Discussion' tab and set up your own Discussion and introduce yourself to the group - you could just copy an paste what you have in this first post. 

You may find our various Macmillan Support Line Services to be helpful - call them on 0808 808 00 00 This free service covers Emotional Support, Practical Information. Clinical Information, Financial Support and Work Guidance mostly open 8.00 to 8.00 but check the link.

We also have our ‘Ask an Expert’. section where you can post questions to our mostly Volunteer Experts but please allow 2 working days to get a reply.

Talking to people face to face can help a lot so check to see if you have any Local Macmillan Support in your area or a Maggie’s Centre as these folks are amazing.

When you feel up to it try putting some information in your profile. This really helps others when answering. It also means that you don't have to keep repeating yourself. Just click on YOUR username, select 'Edit Profile'. Put as much or as little in your profile and you can amend it at any time - you can see members profiles by hitting our forum names.

All the very best.

HI Jane

Thank you for the reply, its good to hear from you

Yes we have gone down the 'little and often' route so many times, trying anything we can, delivering meals already prepared, soups etc. but its hard to break a 3 meals a day habit, it just doesn't sink in. Mentally he is sharp as a tack and up until now has never had a days sick in his life, maybe that is why he is reacting in this way, he knows he's dying 

The last time he was seen by a dietitian they told him they were happy with his progress but that was a while ago now and he hasn't seen one since. We had to explain that his stomach was the same size as it was before he had his bowel removed but in his head he is ill and that's how he seams to act. its even harder to get him to drink, he says he doesn't like the taste of water, and as you can imagine this causes all kinds of problems with the stoma.

whatever we do, trying to get it through to him just makes him angry

we are back at the hospital to see the consultant in a few days, i will try to talk to someone about it then

Thank you for the help and taking the time to reply

Thanks for the welcome and information, 

i will update my information and look into some of the suggestions 

all the best