Dad's weight post treatment

Chemo really made me loose weight. More than the surgery. I went from 13 stone down to 10. It took months and months for my digestive system to settle and I didn’t put on much weight in the first year. My weight didn’t stabilise for tthree years. Eventually my weight settled at about 12 stone. A regular three meal a day routine plus snacks in between seemed to be the answer. The snacks were not prepared, just out of the packet things like sausage rolls. I preferred savoury things over sweet, but cream cakes, tinned rice pudding, cereal bars. The way the revised digestive system deals with sugar leads to quite large spikes in blood sugar, which can distort the pre-diabetic indicator levels. However, snacking on sweets won’t put on weight as much as more complex foods. High fat foods like fish and chips were difficult to deal with resulting in diarrhoea for a couple of days.

So many people worry about eating during their recovery. I found exercise helped my appetite. Supplement drinks are a good idea. I used to buy whey powder and mix it with drinks that I enjoyed.

Everybody has a unique recovery. The thing is to experiment and find what works.

i hope this helps.

Hi Brent listening to you journey and expenses feels identical to mine I was 13.3 stone pre diagnosis after chemotherapy I dropped to 11.2 after op and post chemo dropped to 10 at my lowest now creeping back up to 11 stone, but Iv had to work hard to gain weight and it feels such an effort . Like you fish chips is a big no giving me diarrhoea also . 
iv tried protein powders but gave me severe abdominal pains to the point that I was ready to go ae ! 
im still suffering with soft no2 since the operation , and prey it will change one day .

life feels like everything you try to eat at times has a price to pay by making you feel nauseous or dumping even palpitations at times or making me sleepy strait after a bowl of cereal . Things have got better almost one year on and I try to remember that , it can be frustrating at times coping with what should be the basics of life eating and sleeping . 

im finding myself getting anxious when eating just not knowing how it’s going to effect me . Even a simple pasta dish is making my bloods spike does it ever settle down to the point that you can totally relax ? 

Thanks for sharing Brent. Hope things are continuing to go well for you. Yes it's certainly a worry. I'm going to have a chat with the dietician next week and see what she advises. Dad still needs the calories going in but now we have to be mindful of what he's eating. He's always preferred savoury things to sweet and he's said lately that certain cakes can make him feel nauseous. It's still very much trial and error with certain foods.

I keep reminding dad too that he's still in the recovery process (only 7 months post op) and all things considered he's doing really well otherwise. But the eating is a bit of a minefield. I just want to see the scales going up in his favour as its upsetting to see dad look so thin. Take care.