Dad's Cancer.. weight and energy

Hello bntanyax

Welcome to the OC forum, I am sorry for the delay in responding to you, especially as this is such a difficult time for all of your family.

I am really sorry that your Dad has had this sudden and devastating diagnosis, but I want to offer some support in sharing my husbands story with you.

My Husband Dal, was diagnosed with Stage 4 Oesophageal Cancer with secondaries in his lung, liver and lymph nodes, at the beginning of May 2020, T3N3M1 GOJ,  I do not know whether this is the same tumour as your Dad?

He too was told palliative care only, can be treated, but not cured!.. he was given months to live without treatment and a year with treatment.

15 months later he is still undergoing chemo and immunotherapies fortnightly, he has returned to working from home 3 days a week, he eats full meals with occasional swallowing problems, but overall, he is coping with his diagnosis very well, and his previous prognosis was only ever a best guess, which he refused to believe.

If you are interested in reading more of his story, click on my picture and then on the link in our profile, scroll to the bottom of the page and read up, there are several sections, as we updated whenever things changed.

Maybe, his story will encourage your Dad to sit up, IF he has the energy to fight, there are so many possibilities.

Sending Strength, Love and Light to you all

Lowe'

Hi Britanyax 

my dad also has stage 4 which has spread to his liver and spine. He has now stopped Chemo and is under Palliative care. 
he has lost a lot of weight too and energy levels are low. Have you thought about getting a Stent ? This would help with the swallowing.

also, my dad was prescribed shakes on his prescription which he drinks a few a day. 
it is so hard seeing someone you love like this. 

I hope he can improve. 

Hi bntanyax

We are in exactly the same boat, it’s my husband that’s just been diagnosed with OC stage 4 T3N3M1

Just over a month ago life was normal for us too, he’s also had a similar weight loss to your dad in a short space of time, as well as being bed bound and not eating anything! We met the dietitian today she gave me a link to a fab book I cooked from it tonight and he ate the whole 500 cals of soup he’s also taking Agmes nourishment shakes they are only 100ml and contain around 320 cals, not too much to try and get down with good cal content, the Macmillan nurses gave them to us at the hospital but have since started getting them on prescription

I’ll add the link for diet book, it’s really worth looking at, hubby is excited to try most of it

I hope you will find this useful, and I hope your dad will improve

https://www.breakthroughcancerresearch.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/eating-well-with-swallowing-difficulties-in-cancer.pdf

Hi Lowedal

Thank you so much for your message, it was reassuring and its great that your husband has been able to fight through this. 

It's hard trying to speak to dad with all this going on, I think a lot of it is grief as well.. 

Thank you again  - T

Hi Fran, thank you SO MUCH for this link, it's so good! Honestly mum and I were so stuck as to what to give dad and advice etc- the Internet is quite limited for it's resources. 

Sorry about your husbands diagnosis, I hope the both of you can power through this together. We are hoping to hear back regarding a stent insertion soon, but nothing is written in stone yet.. 

Take care  - T

Hi Jayne, so sorry to hear about your dad's diagnosis. We managed to contact the gastro team today to see if there was an update on a stent, and he's on the list. It's just a matter of time I suppose. Dad is also on shakes - getting him to drink more than 100ml is a struggle though..  

Best wishes