Radical Cystectomy

Hi Annie,

Sorry to hear you had an infection. The recovery nurse told me to expect to lose a stone to a stone and a half. I lost a stone in hospital and more when I got home. I weighed under 7 stone at one stage. You are doing the right things so hopefully the weight will go back on when your appetite picks up. It can take time though. It’s still early in your recovery.

Jane x

Hi AnnieC, I lost over a stone too but soon put it back. When on antibiotics and afterwards I often feel listless and uninterested in eating too. But it never lasts very long. If you can eat a reasonable amount of balanced meals you should begin to gain some back. I try not to eat processed foods and protein bars and shakes because they usually don't taste very nice and so don't work for me. Chocolate always works but I can't say its healthy!

Good luck

Latestart

I’ve used Build up in the past to help with weight gain. I’d always been underweight until the pandemic. I’ve lost most of the weight I gained then and am just under 9 stone now. I was 5 ‘7 “ but have lost height due to arthritis.

I eat when worried or fed up and put on a stone when my husband was ill recently. I've also lost height - 9 centimetres from degenerative disc disease (though despite also having osteoporosis haven't broken any vertebrae (yet)). I used to be nearly 5ft 9inches - 175 cms.

It's left me with bad posture and a spare tire which I haven't managed to shift and feels very strange as I was always the tallest in school, and since. Now I look in the mirror and my eye-line is a lot lower than it was only 6 years ago and I can't reach higher shelves. On the other hand, trousers are  longer so no more hanging at half mast - they are still 32 or 33 inside leg but the top is hanging lower down from the waist. An 'ill wind' I suppose.

It does take several months to start putting weight back, because the food is going towards energy & healing internally.  Try to concentrate on carbs & protein, in any form you like. I would have something like a couple of spoonfuls of custard or half a biscuit every hour or two, in between small meals. Apart from protein shakes, you can boost protein by eg putting a spoonful of Complan in soup or a savoury drink, add double cream to mashed potato or with a small slice of cake, or a bit of cheese with anything. Go for full fat options eg mini dessert pots. 

I went on snacking for months, even when back to more normal routine, until weight started to go beyond my target weight. Hope you start to feel better soon.

I think some weight loss is common when ill and in hospital and even more likely after a big operation. I've only had radiotherapy and two TURBTs + a bout of sepsis but all resulted in some weight fluctuations which were mostly a result of my appetite disappearing for a while or, in the case of sepsis, everything (even water) just bouncing straight up and out again! Lots of reassurance and good advice has been given by previous posts. I would pick and choose some of the food suggestions, particularly chocolate and cake and even cream, but why waste it in potato?

I was interested in comments by a few of the posts regarding height loss. I also have osteoarthritis. My height when younger and able to stand up straight was 5'11". Now it's more like 5'9". My weight has returned to a stable 11st 3lb, which is nearly a stone heavier than my pre-cancer days. My waist must have moved closer to the floor because I keep fraying the edges of my trouser legs despite progressively decreasing the inside leg measurement when buying new clothes. I think I'll get my son or daughter to take the heavy sewing machine upstairs to the desk when they next visit. I can then modify/repair garments without having to suffer shopping or gamble on sizes with mail order clothes.

Ray   

Good idea about hemming your trousers. I do mine sometimes too but by hand.

I read somewhere that one can normally expect to lose about 3 cms in height as one ages. Posture makes a difference of course and also how straight one can stand when being measured. 

I don't think my height loss is very much down to osteoarthritis, which I have had for 35 years, I think the disc disease is probably just a slightly worse version of the discs drying out and thinning that would usually lead to the 3 cms. There are a 2 or 3 other things going on in my back besides but won't bore you with those.

A musculoskeletal doctor once told me that back pain is subjective and people with much worse problems than I never feel a thing. I decided to try to emulate them and worked hard on being active and doing Pilates. Seems to have worked although I need to get my core much stronger - been a bit scared of pushing it since the bladder op.

You've just reminded me to ring someone about it so thank you for that.

All the best,

Latestart

My height loss is due to disc damage. I’ve only lost about half an inch but I do try to maintain good posture.

Hi, I lost 6 kilo after surgery, and have not put it back on. Not worried as weight probably about right now - I was slightly porky before.

I had a slipped disc when pregnant many years ago and that was the first disc that disappeared, which was painful. I used to be very overweight too which didn't help. I try with posture but aren't always successful