At this point, the treatments are just beginning to get a bit difficult. Unfortunately as time goes on they will get progressively harder with more mouth sores and fatigue. The very best thing to help is push good nutrition and hydration. Every single day a minimum of 2500 calories and 48 oz of water are mandatory. If you can get him to take in more than that its much better! Together, you can get thru this. You sound like a wonderful caring caregiver who is right there helping your boyfriend to get thru this.
As far as other remedies are concerned, please check every single thing past your boyfriends oncologists before using. Battling cancer is a whole 'nother ballgame and not like anything else. What works for a normal patient or situation may be harmful to your boyfriend at this time. While I am not discounting the helpfulness of other remedies, I am advising the use of extreme caution with them. If it has not been scientifically proven with clinical studies to be effective then use caution and be skeptical. Some things can interfere with the effectiveness of radiation and chemo, even some innocent vitamins can become harmful during treatments so please be careful.
As far as eating goes, he should be pushing himself every single day to continue to eat and drink as normally as possible. While many foods may not be doable, there are many that are. He does not want to lose his ability to swallow which can happen. Relearning to swallow is not an easy road and some patients can have life long problems if they dont keep using those swallowing muscles every single day. When times get tough, even drinking a glass of water can be torture but it must be done. Check with the doc about a prescription for magic mouthwash to help numb the mouth while he eats to make it easier. Taste is just something that he will have to deal with, foods wont taste the same for a while. I found many surprises when I was going thru rads, what I thought would be delicious tasted like burnt garbage. EWWW!!!! Here is a list of easy to eat foods, this can help him with his eating.
Easy to Eat Foods Dont forget as a caregiver you need time for you too. Caregivers have such a difficult job and often they forget to watch out for their own needs. Take a few minutes a day just to clear your head. Keep up the good work!!!
Wishing you both all the best!!!
