Hi, I have been reading postings since my husband was diagnosed with pharyngeal cancer since September. He had radiation and chemo and the tumor is gone. He finished treatment in January and has not been able to eat solid food. Up until 8 weeks ago he had been living on Ensure. I have since bought a very powerful machine that pureeds all whole food. He now eats eggs that have been cooked and liquidified. I can put chicken, mashed potatos and vegetables into this machine and come up with a soup that is nectar thick. He is now eating food at every meal with Ensure or instant breakfast as supplements. He is getting in approximately 3000 calories a day. He lost about 50 lbs. so I am encouraged that he now can start to gain some weight. We are hoping that he can get back to eating solid food again but if not, he certainly can live on the diet he is on. I don't want to mention the name of the machine because I don't know if that would be considered a commercial posting. If you want to e mail me I can give you the info. [email protected] Another interesting piece of info would be that if you have a vetern's hospital near you, Ensure can be purchased in their canteen at half price. Hope this helps. Eileen

eileen.......There are a bunch of cheap and ineffective machines on the market, and I have wasted my money on a couple of them during my recovery phase. If you have found one that is really heavy duty and does the job well, please post its brand so that others can save a bit and not waste their money on weak machines that don't do the job, or which don't hold up over more than a couple of months.

Hi Brian,
I bought a Vita-Mix. This machine is worth every penny I spent on it. They also give you a 30 day money back guarantee trial so I thought you have nothing to lose. It has made such a difference in My husband's diet. Their web site is www.vitamix.com/household. I hope this can help others as much as it helped me. Eight weeks ago I was thinking of asking the doctors for a peg tube as I was so worried about how I was going to get the proper nutrition into him and also have it the nectar thickness that he needed. Eileen

hi lynn,

i ordered scandishake through their website for my sister. they don't have a sampler pack, but you can buy small quantities. the trick is the shipping cost which is not so little so it'll make buying small quantities pretty expensive. i ordered a 24 pack as it seemed to me that this product is better than ensure. anyway, here's their web address:

http://store.axcanscandipharm.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PLST&Store_Code=ASOS

also, any food can be pureed, as others have mentioned. if your stomach can tolerate it, it's probably best to not entirely rely on scandishake or ensure particularly because of high sugar content which is where the callories come from. everything i've read about nutrition advises against sugar as it feeds cancer cells.

as of tomorrow i'll be working on coming up with some high-callorie but healthy receipes that could work for tube-feeding for my sister. i'll share what i come up with. i figure if you can send it down through the tube you can swallow it too.

be well.

gita

My husband has been craving the taste of beef. I ran across this broth recipe in a favorite Italian cookbook and made it this week. Its quick, easy and a little different tasting than canned soups. I know it does'nt have alot of calories, but does offer a change of pace.
Crazy Broth
4 cups water
3 ribs celery with leaves roughly chopped
4 bullion cubes[chicken or beef]no msg if possible
1 carrot chopped
1 onion quartered
salt[optional]
Simmer together 20 or 30 min. I strained the veggies and mushed the carrots and onions thru a sieve for extra flavor. I also added a 1\2 cup of Quaker quick cook barley[John loves it]and cooked for an additional 15 min. This broth is good without any additions for a total liquid diet. Amy