Trouble eating

Hi Rose321 has your friend tried ginger biscuits?  Gingers good for soothing stomachs. Or even  lemon n ginger herbal tea might help?

Her tumour' s almost definitely pressing on her stomach as it's  that size.

Hi Rose321,

When our son was a baby he had a sickness bug and we were advised to keep him hydrated and give him children's paracetamol.  Whenever we tried he vomited it up.  We were advised to give him water a teaspoon at a time as it did not matter how long it took just that it happened.

When I first got cancer I use to feel sick but found that nibbling a little (as opposed to eating a meal) actually helped me to cope with it.  If your mum needs energy, sweets, chocolate, biscuits and pieces of cake and things which are normally regarded as unhealthy like ice cream, custard, chocolate mouse etc are probably the best bet at the moment.  If she prefers savoury then cubes of cheese, slices of cooked sausage etc would work just as well.  Personally I find it harder to resist a piece of chocolate than I do a cube of cheddar.  It doesn't matter if it takes her a few hours if she manages to eat as much as she would previously eaten in one meal.  Personally I found that I was putting on weight by nibbling and had to move to healthier options like chopped or dried fruit and crudites.

My Dad used to hate the fortified milk drinks but then discovered that he could make a palatable cocktail by adding Rum to the chocolate one.  He found them much more palatable after that.

I hope that this helps.

All the best to you both,

Gragon xx

I am quite often troubled with the feeling of sickness and as Gragon said snacking rather than trying a meal suited me better. I love cheese too and can also tolerate the full fat custard in a tub. I do tend towards savory rather than sweet having said that about the custard. I fancied things that others would avoid like a curry or a chilli but might only manage a very small amount. Unfortunately it's a bit of whatever she fancies at any time. Xx

Thank you for getting back to me. She ended up getting admitted Tuesday, they gave her a blood transfusion to boost her and had emergency surgery at Guys Hospital on Thursday. They removed the kidney, lymph nodes and tumour. They said it went really well without any complications but she is in a lot of pain and quite traumatised by it all. She has an L shaped incision.  She still has a tube down her stomach to drain it. Not eating yet and only able to sip water and bedridden. This is actually my sister. Any advice would be great x 

No wonder your sister is traumatised Rose321 after all that. She needs to make sure she gets regular pain relief - that makes so much difference. Once she is able to eat, albeit only small amounts , n drink properly she'll also feel better.

Good luck with all this. Her body will b in shock too, so she needs to treat herself gently for a while.

Sending sympathy and love to your sister it sounds like you are doing a amazing job in supporting her but take a break for yourself too ...you deserve it.