My husband has rectal cancer. He has had the surgery with a temporary ileostomy. He starts chemo in a few days. He has lost a lot of weight and I'm wondering if there is anything you use to stimulate appetite.
Hi jbrazell and a warm welcome to the board. I’m not sure if these ideas will stimulate appetite but there’s some suggestions for increasing the calorie content of food? There are also build up drinks called Ensure which are little pots of drink but they contain 200+ calories and I think there are also soups by Complan. You could try asking at your local pharmacy.
There’s some suggestions in the link below and I’ve also included the link about Low Residue diets. I found food used to go through my Ileostomy quite quickly so if that’s the case with your hubby too then maybe talk to his consultant/stoma nurse about taking loperamide?
There’s another recent post on the board about losing weight after surgery - it’s with the moderators at the minute but you could watch out for it coming back on and I’ll try and tag you if I see it
I was diagnosed with Colorectal Stage three cancer in 2019, after having joint Chemotherapy and Radium treatment, followed by surgery to remove the Anus, Rectum and part of the Colon and then pretty much left to it by the hospital.
I remember afterwards feeling very run down, I approached my local pharmacy for advice.
They recommended a tonic, which there are quite a range , if you approach your GP surgery, they might be able to prescribe something.
I quite agree though, your husband needs to be eating small but regular meals, also it wouldn't be a bad idea to speak to the Stoma team for advice.
I really do hope that your husband starts to feel better in himself very very soon, please do keep us updated with your husbands progress.
