Liquid food for throat cancer

Hi there

I had a feeding tube and used Fresubin drinks which were prescribed for me.  I never studied the labels but I was assured that they contained all the vitamins, protein, minerals, carbs etc that were required.  There were two sorts, one with fibre and one without.  I had the tube for several months and for a few weeks the Fresubins were my only nutrition.  I maintained my weight with them and I recovered well.

Best wishes to you and your family, it must be very reassuring to your Dad to know you are there to support him.  xx

Hi

I had a RIG for about 7 months and there were times when it was my only source of nutrition. I had Fortisips. I used a pump overnight . I did look at their content and they seemed to have everything your body needs. I maintained my weight and felt fine on them.

Best wishes for your dads treatment  and when things get really bad just know that they do get better

Hello PopPops, i have been reading all the side effects you have listed are not "will have " but "might have", nobody knows how they will react to the radio and chemo. Two of my saliva glands were removed so my saliva is reduced but does not cause me any problem during the day as they can recover if not the others normally take the strain so he should have some saliva, i make sure i carry a small bottle of water during the day so my mouth does not dry out . I agree during treatment eating and swallowing will become difficult so as you say the peg comes into use, hopefully as he starts to recover he should be able to swallow and eat certain foods and drinks, so there is hope at the end of it all. I have been using my peg since 2009 using Ensure supplement drinks which i syringe through the peg, my weight and health have stayed stable and cannot really complain about it as it has served me well. It all sounds scary and uncertain at the moment and he will have good and bad days , always remember there are drugs that can help with any pain, sickness, soreness etc so please ask for help . Wishing your dad all the best, take care.

                                                                                        Chris x

I was treated for throat cancer in 2013, and spent several weeks unable to take any solid food.    I was prescribed Fortisip, as I recall, which I managed without any feeding tube, and I had similar concerns to yours.   However, the hospital nutritionist assured me that the preparation contained all the necessary vitamins, minerals and so on, along with fibre and anything else required to provide a balanced diet.

In the event, I struggled with drinking the recommended number of bottles of Fortisip every day, and I wouldn't have wanted to supplement them with anything, though maybe it's easier with a tube.

I'd be guided by the hospital in this -- they've had plenty of experience of treating and feeding cancer patients, after all.

Obviously everyone's experience is different but I think you will find your father is very tired from the treatment, and the very necessary strong painkillers obviously add to this.    I think just ensuring he has plenty of time to rest quietly is one of the most important things you can do for him -- talking is going to be very difficult for him after a couple of weeks of radiotherapy, and if he's anything like me he'll just want to sleep or read a book or watch TV or something.

Hi this is Hazel I am 8 month post radiotherapy I too had a feedingbtube from week 5 for a further 5 weeks the feed was well balance along with ensure and fresh in drink supplements ,I maintained a healthy diet ok lost weight but 8 weeks after treatmentbdinished I was well enough to fly to Spain and take gentle exercise 

I have a blog www.radioactiveraz.wordpress.com

any questions please ask ,I don’t hold back any punches in the blog but give an accurate account if what happened to me .

its not the easiest treatment and recovery can be challenging but I am still here along with many others. Do you know if your dad is h p v 16+ ? Am doing what TM he hasn’t been diagnosed I was T2N2NM0.

hazel x

Hi, 

best wishes for your Dad through his treatment. My Husbands only nutrition has been Fortisip and there calorie dense Calagon for about 7 months now. His weight dropped when he was on chemo but recovered and is now stable. We have supplemented the drinks with peppermint tea to help bloating and some mineral enriched water as he has suffered low magnesium and potassium but that’s stabilised now. We have been assured by the dietician that it will supply his needs. 

Hello,

my husband was on a feeding tube for 5 months. When he started to take sips by mouth he couldn’t tolerate thiose bottled drinks because of their taste. They made him sick - the dairy free varieties were marginally better but not much. So I got a Nutribullet and made my own shakes that were high calorie - eg almond milk, almond butter, and dates wizzed up - that had loads of calories and tasted quite nice. Nothing harsh or acidic. I also gave him Soylent which is a 400 cal liquid meal replacement. I improvised and thought my shakes  were probably better for him than those bottled drinks, or perhaps no worse.  But then again there was really no other option in his case as he needed something he could keep down. I did inform the dieticians what we were doing which I would recommend to be safe. However I do slightly wonder if the drinks are a bit of a cop out for the dieticians as it’s far easier to tell someone to drink a bottle of it than to think about other and perhaps better options  (I’m referring to the supplement drinks here not the liquid food for the tube which keeps you alive as people have said). Good luck - your Dad is lucky to have you and he will get through. 

I put those horrible drinks down the tube