I'm new here. My husband, Phil, is the patient and I am having "culinary adventures" every night trying to find what he can tolerate. He had a tumor removed from his tongue in May 2012 with clear margins and no cancer in lymph nodes. In November a new one showed up. Due to insurance issues he didn't start treatment until late January. He's getting Erbitux infusions plus daily radiation.

I've read a bit here and so appreciate the input! I apologize if my questions are repeats. Salty, acidic and of course spicy foods are off limits plus anything dry or bumpy. Oddly, he can tolerate things with cheese and salted butter, but nothing if we add a bit of salt ourselves.

I am wondering if potassium salt substitute has the same stinging effect as salt. Every fruit he has tried burns. I have not tried stewing prunes yet, so maybe that will work. It can't hurt with gastric issues, either!

Thank you!
Lori

Welcome to OCF, Lori! While being treated and recovering from oral cancer a patient will have major issues with eating. Im not surprised that salt will bother him so much. Every single food and drink will not taste like it is supposed to for weeks, possibly months. All the food problems are usually a temporary hardship and most members will slowly return to eating somewhat close if not exactly like they did prior to having cancer. But it takes time, and when waiting for something like recovery, time can seem to take forever.

Here is a list of foods which will be easier for your husband to tolerate right now.

Easy to Eat Foods

Best wishes!!

It is an adventure, and will be for quite a while depending at what point of treatment he is at, areas radiated, and dosage amount, but taste will eventually come back, maybe not quite what it was, but can be close. I'm not familiar with the potassium salt substitute, but have used organic salt substitutes, but not during treatment due to offending tastes of many foods, and not wanting to be turned off by any in the future, I avoided many, and relied on canned nutrition. Anyway, trying to improve saliva may help taste, drinking milk replicates saliva, and may help with eating irritating foods, but the lactic acid may burn in some. Umami, 5th taste sense, is unique, and transcends into all areas of the mouth, tongue....taste buds, which are more compartmentalized in taste senses for salt, sweet, sour, bitter, and helps with taste, so I use Umami type foods often...anchovy, Worcestershire sauce, hard cheeses, dry bonito flakes, fish sauce, dried mushrooms, soy sauce, cured meats, etc., which enhances everything.

Thank you both for your answers! I went ahead & picked up a container of the salt substitute. It was inexpensive, so if he can't tolerate it, it wasn't a waste of money. We've JUST paid off his hospital bill and lab bills from last year. We are still paying for the MRI & PET scans. Now the fun part begins with bills for the "chemo" (Erbitux) and radiation. So very thankful we have insurance. At least this way we can eventually pay the bills.