Yes Susan is right about the weird things AK. Symptoms, side effects, taste, dry mouth, sores, oral thrush, constipation, nausea, scary dreams, it all changes on sometimes an hourly basis. None of it will be new to the medicos he sees every day during treatment, and most things can be alleviated if not fixed. He needs to keep on top of the changes, both mentally and physically. Its easy to let something get out of hand. Constipation for example, is entirely avoidable and can make life completely unbearable if allowed to go too far.


You'll hear this many times, but it is critical he get fluids and calories in. Its easier said than done. You know you need to eat, but everything (sometimes even water) makes you want to throw up. And you can't force it down. If your brain tells your stomach this food is off like the taste signals are telling you, your stomach says no and it comes back up. Vomiting over a raw throat is painful and distressing.

No amount of nagging will help, but its something he desperately needs help with. He knows he needs to eat but he will only be able to come up with a limited number of ideas. After many many failures my wife ended up feeding me a poached egg on rice with a sauce made of peanut butter and cream. It sounds ridiculous, but the taste combo worked. I found I could taste peanuts, and that sent the "its ok" signal down to the stomach. I lived on that, and boiled rice and milk for a couple of weeks.



Cheers, Dave (OzMojo)
19Feb2014 Diagnosed T2N2bM0 P16+ve SCC Tonsil.
31Mar2014 2 Cisplatin, 70gy over 7 weeks (completed 16May2014)
11August2014 PET/CT clear.
17July2019 5 years NED.