Eating during treatment:Tips and Recipes

I see Beesuit has beaten me to it but let me add my tuppenceworth. I just stopped eating dead, full stop at 3 weeks. It just hurt too much however much morphine I was glugging. It was upsetting especially for my wife . It's one of the things they don't prepare you enough for in my opinion , eating is a social event and it hurts our partners when we cannot eat with them. My wife ate by herself for about 6 weeks although I was happy to sit and watch her. Carry on sipping water, you'll still be swallowing. Don't suffer unnecessarily, if you have a feeding tube use it.

Don't beat yourself up, the treatment is hard enough without forcing yourself to endure pain you don't need to.

JonH

Thanks Dani yes i have tried soup makers but its hard to get it thin enough for my swallow, perhaps that's why they don't make them as it's too difficult. No injection yet but my son and wife have,im sure i will get called up soon. 

                                                                       Chris x 

Oh Chris, that's such a shame about the soup. I hope the odd pint of Guinness goes down still.

Hi all 

I’m soon to start treatment. 6 weeks of both radiotherapy (5 days a week) and 6 weeks of chemotherapy (1 day a week) 

I’m determined to try to keep eating at least soft things. By biggest concern about foods is I am gluten intolerant too. Certain foods I cannot get gluten free. I love making my own soups etc.  

my oncologist said that a meeting with the nutritionist probably won’t be until after I start the treatment? 
I understand from reading your posts, it’s definitely worth getting a feeding tube? 
any advice on that would help. 

thanks

Samantha

Hi Samantha 

Good news that you have a plan and things are falling into place 

I too was determined to keep eating and told my oncologist that. His face was a picture and he said that he was going to really fry the back of my throat so he’d see. Great bedside manner you’ll agree?
He was right though and I lasted three weeks.
I wasn’t given a choice at the start and was told that hospital protocol was to place a nasogastric tube if I needed it. It took only a few minutes and wasn’t particularly uncomfortable. I coped with it well and it was a life saver. I couldn’t have managed without it. 
I am pleased that I didn’t have a PEG. I didn’t need to have a theatre slot to have it placed and the NG tube came out quick as a flash when its job was done. 
I don’t think they place PEGs after treatment starts but I might be wrong. 
Take heart though. Lots of people manage without. 

Hi Samantha 

Good news that you have a plan and things are falling into place 

I too was determined to keep eating and told my oncologist that. His face was a picture and he said that he was going to really fry the back of my throat so he’d see. Great bedside manner you’ll agree?
He was right though and I lasted three weeks.
I wasn’t given a choice at the start and was told that hospital protocol was to place a nasogastric tube if I needed it. It took only a few minutes and wasn’t particularly uncomfortable. I coped with it well and it was a life saver. I couldn’t have managed without it. 
I am pleased that I didn’t have a PEG. I didn’t need to have a theatre slot to have it placed and the NG tube came out quick as a flash when its job was done. 
I don’t think they place PEGs after treatment starts but I might be wrong. 
Take heart though. Lots of people manage without. 

Hi Samantha. When I was given treatment plan I had to agree that if it became difficult I would agree to a n g tube. What’s important is the amount of calories snd protein you can consume daily.Thev first few weeks i could eat fairly  normally so it’s not a major stress to start with. My hospital didn’t fit the peg during treatment only the n g tube once treatment had started. You will need to make sure that the dietitian s are aware of your food intolerances. 
Personally when I was ready for tube it was a life saver I couldn’t swallow a poached egg so knew i needed help. Good luck with treatment keep in touch 

Hazel x

Ha Ha of course Dani

                                            Chris x

Good evening Samrobdog, i have always had a PEG feeding tube where you syringe or use a pump to get food supplements into the stomach, if you are going to need a feeding tube for a longer period then the Peg would be better as they are more discreet but for a shorter period an NG tube will be ok , Dani is right they prefer to fit PEG prior to treatment which is good as it gives it time to settle in. As Hazel said its just a case of getting the correct amount of calories into the body as well as drugs i.e painkillers. Im sure the dietician will sort out a regime for you, wishing you all the best for your course of treatment, we will support you as much as possible, all the best.

                                                                                      Chris x 

I read that boiled eggs are good for your liver