Anne-Marie,

You will not find the Carnation VHC at the GNC store. It' easiest to order it through a pharmacy like Walgreens or CVS. They can get it to you in a day or 2 and cheaper than ordering it online. Make sure you tell them VHC, the one with the 560 cals. There are many Carnation Instant Breakfast products out there.

The first 2 weeks or so AFTER TX is usually the WORSE for everyone. By week 3 he will probably walk out of that dark tunnel he has been in and start to feel like he's alive again but ONLY IF he maintains his fluids and nourishment.

In light of that fact you may want to talk to his docs about the feeding tube they put down his nose into his stomach. It takes a minute or so to "install" and they have to x ray his stomach to make sure it's in place. It's temporary and it doesn't require the surgery that a Peg does. After it's gotten him over the nausea hump and he can start to eat solid foods and his confidence returns, he can, with his doc's permission, pull it out himself.

I also did not have a Peg and I lasted until the end of my first week post Tx but I let them put the Nose tube in because I/they no longer was able to manage the nausea. I had mine in 10 days and I stopped taking all meds, got hydrated, got nourished, got rid of the nausea, got my confidence back and started to eat solid foods again. One day I called my doc and gave him my progress report and ask him if I could pull it out myself and he said "go for it". Took 10 seconds and zero discomfort. The "nose job" showed me the way out of my dark tunnel.