Hi all,

As a lot of you know I was in the hospital a few weeks ago and they got me to feeling better with all of the fluids and all. I was feeling great when I got home but it seemed like after a few days I started feeling worse and worse. Well, I had a doctors appointment on Wednesday of this past week and ,sure enough, I was dehydrated. They asked me to come back the next day for fluids and I told the doctor that I couldnt hardly walk across the room without passing out.

He ended up admitting me and I stayed overnight. When they decided to let me let me go home the next day I told them that I was still as weak as I was the day before but they released me anyway.While I was there though I they brought me some ground pork and collard greens by mistake. It has been awhile since I have eaten anything by mouth but the more I sat there and stared at that good food, the more I had to try it.... LOL

I ended up eating a good bit of it but my throat hurt like crazy the next day so I am just trying a bowl of soup as I am typing this. I know I can eat jellos and stuff like that. I think the mucous may be letting up also but Im not sure so Im really leary of dairy products that may make the mucous thicker.

Anyway, I just wanted to know any suggestions to get my strenght back up or if anyone has been in this perdicament and what did you do. Dont get me wrong here, If I get too weak I will march my butt right back to the hospital but we all know that the hospital is the easiest place to catch something.

Thanks in advance yall,
Billy

Billy, Keep a few bottles of unflavored pedialyte in your pantry. You can interchange 8 to 12 oz of that for other liquids [or in case you are not getting enough liquids] and it will help prevent the dehydration. Sounds like you are not drinking enough on your own. Good for you for trying solid food- you can find lots of easy to swallow recipes with good calories here. Just search for recipes. Keep going strong. Amy in the Ozarks

Billy,

I didn't have the advantage of this site during my Tx so I made some common mistakes that landed me in the ER 3 times for dehydration, nausea, etc. I didn't drink enough water and I didn't drink enough food every day. I also would come home from the ER feeling much better but would slowly get worse because I would revert back to my old habits of not keeping up with the water and calorie things. You must drink at least 48 ozs of water and drink at least 2000 cals of food EACH AND EVERY DAY. Don't think if you short one day you will make it up the next, because you won't.

What we have decicded to do now is pump feed at night and then finish up the rest during the day. I am doing 3.5 cans of the Walgreens 350 cal during the night and 3 cans during the day. They delivered the pump last night along with a hospital beb because they say in order to be pumped you have to be at a 30 degree incline to keep the food from coming into your throat area. Does anyone know anything about this???
I know it wasnt too comfortable sleeping last night.

I do seem to be getting back to swallowing normally. I can swallow larger amounts of water now. I really dont know what the mucous thing is doing. It seems like its there then its not as bad then its there... I dont know. Maybe its because Im eating a little and trying to drink water.

You are right Amy, I probably am not drinking enough on my own. I hate water and always have. I have a case of Propel water on the floor but Im scared to drink it because I dont want it to make the mucous thicker.

Billy,

Not a doc but I think you could stand a few more cans. Shoot for 3000 cals a day at this stage. I did and I noticed a big difference in the way I felt.

Billy, Is Propel water just a brand name? All of the advice on this forum leans to drinking as much water as you can and that is supposed to help lessen the mucous- not make it worse! Think fluids! We got by just fine with the peg feedings with John propped up with pillows behind his back in his regular bed - hospital beds can be cumbersome for some people. What kind of pain meds are you on? Amy in the Ozarks

Wow David, If I did a few more cans I wouldnt have room for anything else. I am trying to eat some during the day to add more calories. I am eating soups right now and I have searched recipes to try and find some other things to eat.

Jam, Propel is a fitness water that kinda has an aftertaste that is like the old artificial sweetners used to have. What worries me is it making mucous thicker therefore harder to deal with. Mucous scares me more than anything because of the choking fits I had with it when my airway narrowed.

Maybe I need to start drinking more juices. That would take the place of water right. I would like to do whatever it takes to get this over with. All I want to do is walk out of this and put it behind me. I asked the good Lord yesterday to bring me on out. I am ready to do the neck disection if necessary and heal from it and move on to a more normal life with my wife and children.

HI I HAD THE SAME PROBLEM AS YOU WITH THE MUCUS. I WAS ALSO DEHYDRATED BUT WHAT HELPED ME AND, DID NOT SEEMED TO TASTE TOO BAD WAS GATORADE. I LIKED THE PURPLE ONE BECAUSE IT TASTED BETTER THAN ANY OTHERS AT THAT TIME. NOW THAT MY TASTE IS NEARLY BACK TO NORMAL I NO LONGER LIKE IT. TRY THE GATORADE AND GET A FEW DIFFERENT FLAVORS TO SEE IF YOU LIKE IT. GOOD LUCK AND KEEP ASKING THE GOD LORD FOR HELP. IT WORKS.

Scrambled eggs are a good source of dairy and protein. I would put sharp chedder cheese in mine and lots of garlic so that I could taste it more.

Billy,

I am only 5'7" and weight 155 and if I could put 6 cans of VHC and eat small portions of mac n cheese, fruit cocktail and mash potatoes w/ gravey starting in my 3rd week post TX, you can do it as well. I really started to feel better the more I consumed and my docs said to eat as much as I could.

Billy, it is very difficult to drink alot of fluids and also drink our meals. The 350 calorie count cans makes that very difficult. I was drinking a half a case of water and trying to take in atleast 2500 calories with ensure plus and I felt like I would burst. It also kept me very nauseous. That's when I found David's post about the Carnation Instant Breakfast VHC Lactose Free drink. It has 560 calories in just 8 ounces. I combine a can of it with a can of ensure plus because the taste of the CIB was to stong for me but I didn't stay as bloated. I drank 3 16 oz meals a day and started feeling much better. I had my pharmacy order the CIB for me. If not you can order them yourself. They are a bit expensive but its still less than a trip to McDonalds. And it is definately less than the cost of malnutrition.

Also your dr. should be able to prescribe you home health to give you fluids. That is what mine did. I had fluids the last couple of weeks of treatment, and the week after. My dr. had home health do it on the weekends and the week after tx. I didn't feel bad but he said I was on the edge and all of my counts were really low so better safe than sorry. It saves alot of sickness and it saves the trip to the emergency room, and hospital. Good luck

Billy, plese read the content information on your Propel water label and compare it to Pedialyte and Gatoraide. These two are proven to help with dehydration-I don't know what the Propel benefits are, but it may have stuff in it that you don't need to deal with. Juices DO NOT take the place of water-unless you mix them with water- ask the Rad or chemo nurses to break down for you the amount of and what kind of fluids they need yu to take in daily and write that down. Ask what kind of I.V. you would get, if you went into the E.R. for dehydration. Knowledge is power in this fight.
By the way, while soups provide variety, it is very hard to get very many calories with most soups unless you load them with whole milk, cream, butter, cheese, etc. Can you tolerate V-8 or tomato juice through the peg? You are sounding strong, Billy, keep it up! Amy in Oz