Help with what to eat after surgery.

Hi , I'm sorry to hear how things are going with Rob. I wonder if it might help to speak to one of the nurses on our helpline, 0808 808 0000. You've been with us for quite a while and, as one of the online champions, I too am disappointed with the upgrade. I, along with other champs, have made a lot of suggestions for improvements but it isn't easy finding our way around things now. Back to Rob, I've found a couple of sites that might be helpful, click here for one and click here  for advice from the cancer council. I was hoping to tag a champ with lots of experience but the tagging isn't working. It might sound odd, but if you pop into the breast cancer group and ask in there (the old green for links has gone but if you hover the link is there), they have a lot of experience with eating difficulties.

Big hugs, LoobyLou xx

Hi Judy

Yes everyone is finding the upgrade a pain.

but Rob’s eating... I can only tell you what was good for me. The biggest thing and it’s still a rule for me after six years, is drinking! I must never drink with or after a meal or snack. I broke this rule a week ago when someone made me a cup of coffee immediately after my breakfast. I thought it would be rude to leave it but it brought on dumping and everything associated with it. Thankfully after an hour I was ok again but for me it’s a rule.

Regarding appetite. I craved tasty food: tomato juice, curry, Pasta dishes, sausages. Most things that are not really healthy! But when one has malabsorption you don’t absorb so much of it anyway! Cream cakes, sausage rolls, toad in the hole with hp sauce! Bacon butties. My mouth waters at the thought - and I’ve just had lunch! And if food gets stuck a mouthful of fizzy drink.

I hope things improve for you both soon.

best wishes

 Brent

Hi LoobyLou. 
thank you so much for the links. I’ll get straight in them now. Thank you for your advice. 
I hope they sort this site out as it took me most of the evening to try and find where I needed to go. I almost gave up! 
xxxx

Hi Brent

Thankyou for this advice. I didn’t even think about the drinking part, so I’ll tell Rob about that. He does love a curry and pasta so I will try him on those. 
I love this place. You’ve all been so helpful to me. Thank you so much xx

Good evening George-Mildred, I'm from the Head and Neck Group, I cannot really help on eating solid foods as I have a PEG in my stomach which I syringe Ensure drinks through although I can swallow them if diluted, I don't know what sort of Ensure Rob is on as there are different sorts I would steer clear of any that include fibre as these used to go straight through me, even if I had one a day it just did not agree. I'm on Ensure compact as they are smaller bottles but with the same calories as the others, the only drawback is the flavours are limited. Also, I found it better to have one bottle at a time because I found if you try two at a time it can also have the same effect. It could also be the dairy foods that are causing this as Ensure is made of milk ( long life type) as you say it is hard as they contain lots of calories, maybe a change of companies will help as some people have Fortisips or Aymes. Hope this is of some help, all the best to you both, take care.

                                                                           Chris x

Hi, it's good to see a familiar name, although for all the wrong reasons. Is this Judy? If I remember correctly,if not I apologize. The diet can be such a hassle after the surgery, I can't remember if Rob had a feeding tube. However, I found much of the diet advice wasn't very good. Much of the diet ideas contained high sugar and carbohydrates, which for me caused early food dumping and about an hour later the late food dumping syndrome ( severe sugar crash ). I was on the overnight feeding tube supplements for about 3 months after surgery. Once I was gaining weight the feeding was cut to alternative nights,then stopped and my weight was checked about a month later. The feeding was stopped and again a month later my weight was checked to make sure I was maintaining the weight. I learned to avoid sugary foods and avoided potatoes. I ate a lot of minced beef as it was versatile for chilli and Bolognese as well as plain old mince. I take friendly bacteria for the gut, initially the yoghurt drinks and on the advice of Brent I got acidophilus 3 billion capsules from Holland and Barrett. It might be worth a try but might be worth checking with the GP or someone from the hospital where Ron's treatment was carried out. My annual checkup hasn't happened yet I think due to the current situation with the virus. I have been fortunate enough with eating and on leaving hospital in October 2016 I was 57kg. I am now 100kg and will soon have to go on a diet! It might also be worth cutting back on the dairy products, I think some people have become lactose intolerant because of their new internal plumbing system. Maybe the links suggested will help. Good luck and kind regards, please keep us informed how things go. Things can change suddenly for the better, tell Rob a fat bloke said hello and to keep fighting. Frank.

Hi sorry to hear about the difficulty in eating and it was exactly the same for me lived my life not far from the toilet , but keep persevering it really does settle down I tried those yogurts with live cultures and some bio cultures tablets from health shop and they helped so much  and I made myself eat every two hours even if it was a dry biscuit  best of look xx

Hi Frank,

yes it’s Judy. Rob had the feeding tube as well but he pulled it out by mistake about a month too soon.  I definitely think he is lactose intolerant now. He just can’t tolerate the ensure drinks. I’ve now changed them to the juice ones. So fingers crossed he can have those. 
I will start giving him mince as he likes that. I think it’s just going to be trial and error I think. He has put on a couple I pound the last few days which is promising. So fingers crossed. 
It’s So lovely to hear from you. 
Take care 

Judy xxx

Thank you Jackie. That’s good to hear your story. Hopefully Robs will settle down for him too. Thank you for sharing this with me. 
Judy xxx

Thank you so much for replying Chris. I’ve only just seen everyone’s reply so I apologise for not getting back to you. Rob is on the compact ensure drinks which just go through him. But I will definitely try him on the other ones that you suggested. 
Thank you so much 

Judy xx