Hi Jen,
On one of your posts, uou asked about foods you might be able to try. I started with apple juice, apple sauce, flat Frasca or Ginger Ale, coffee, black, beer, scrambled eggs, poached eggs, yogurt, pasta with cream sauce, soups, mostly cream, romaine lettuce with Kraft blue cheeese dressing, cream of wheat with lots of honey, butter and hot milk, rare steak cut in tiny pieces, lamb chops with mint jelly, mixed vegetables, corn, etc. You need to pcik foods that have a lot of natural moisture and serve meats with a sauce. One day something would taste good and the next day like crap. You have to keep experimenting but the sooner you can start taking food orally, the better you should feel. It is not like you have to eat everything orally like I did. My tongue was very burnt so I had to have no spices. Unfortunately I did not keep a journal so all this is from memory from 8 years ago. I did go back to work 3 weeks after rad and had to eat in company cafeteria so I was on soup and sald by then.

They had me on a high protein diet of 80gms a day, so it took lots of milk and Ensure Plus to maintain that with the amount of food I could eat. Check with the dietician on that and what you can eat. Mine also put me on zinc, Vit C & E. Remember I only had a neck dissection, rad but no chemo so my experience may be different.

Hope you are feeling better soon and trust me I know how frustrating it cna be to not be able to talk. I still have my steno pad with my RAGE notes on it.

Take care,
Eileen

Eileen, thank you so much. I was trying to think this morning on what I could do to get myself eating better... or at least eating something besides that awful formula from the PEG tube. I don't know where to start, but figure I should start trying stuff and getting myself off the PEG. I miss food almost as much as I miss talking.

I am going to ponder awhile and perhaps later post a topic on what everybody tried when they were getting off the PEG.

Hi Jen,
I remember desperately missing food! I went from about third week of radiation to a few months after radiation ended only sipping water. It was a very rough thing to handle as food is such a social thing and to me is a comfort. The thing that helped me tremendously was to cook up a storm. I spent tons of money on brand new cooking utensils and the cupboards were over flowing. I bought every cookbook I could get my hands on and cooked dishes I never would have considered before cancer. It made me feel better to serve it to my family and I found great joy in smelling it. Sad thing is, I'm a hopeless cook.....go figure. Man, what I put my husband through was just plain wrong.....he still gives me a wary look when I bring him a plate of food. I have retired the cookbooks, my older girls have "borrowed" most of my new cooking gear, and I'm back to preparing my usual "plain maine" food......veggie, potatoes, bread and meat.
Try cooking, it might be therapeutic for you as it was for me.
Minnie

Jen,

I remember dreaming of a pizza. It was all I thought about for awhile. I would feel so sorry for myself and think "Will I ever be able to eat a pizza again?". The last treatment I had was right before Memorial Day of last year. I too thought "All done, now I will get better!" Bring it on. I even planned a weeks vacation with my entire family the first week of June. Talk about insane. The month of June was horrible. Was on a pain patch until the end of July. The worst was the sores in the mouth and the swallowing. Pain patch helped some but I had to take some tylenol with codiene on top of it. And the worst part was feeling out of it and not "in control" of things. When I was ready to get things down orally I started with shakes. Applesauce burned and so did mash potatoes. One thing that I didn't like before but it soon became my best friend was cottage cheese (I would add peaches to it) it was so smooth and the coolness helped the throat. When I was desperate I would drink a can of Boost just for the calories. Alfredo sauce was also my buddy and gravies too. And washing every bite down with water!!! My dietician at the hospital was a great source of knowledge and gave me some info with recipes for people who are trying to eat again. Alot of shakes. They even told me to add ganola oil to a shake to get some calories. That was a big deal to them. I had to really prove I was maintaining my weight before ever pulling the peg. It was finally pulled Sept. 10. (Installed April 1.)
I know you want this all to be over and it will be soon. But just know that everyweek you will feel a little better. Some weeks something new might pop up, more tired or ear pain, whatever. But it does gradually get better. Never thought the day would come when I would say it, but it does. Talk to the Dr. about the eating/vomiting problem maybe it's the food your on. When I took that family vacation I prearranged to have my food shipped and waiting for me. Guess what didn't arrive for 4 days?? I had to go to a pharmacy and buy ensure to put into my tube. It made me soooo sick. My regular "food" was Nutren. So maybe it's not agreeing with you. There was about 3 weeks when I couldn't talk and that drove me nuts. I remember one night when my husband and daughter were both not at home and I just started freaking out and getting all nervous. What if something was to happen to me?? I couldn't call anyone to tell!!!! Now I laugh that I was able to even shut up for that long a time!
It will improve! But it can be slow. Just try to take the best care of yourself possible and get as much rest as you can. You just went thru alot! ASk for something to sleep at night from your Dr. if you have to.

Take care of yourself. I swear it only gets better. Give yourself a week for every week you had radiation to finally feel "normal".
C

Jen,
I was one who suffered alot with nausea even after treatment ended,ironically I spent hours watching the food channel, all the good looking food -no smells! I tried aromatic oil of peppermint,it seemed too help. Also "Carnation Instant Breakfast" made in a blender with a little extra real vanilla and 4/5 ice cubes. I could stand the vanilla taste, it was the first to come back and the ice cubes gave it some body so I could swallow,plus the cold was sooo nice. I still like to start the day with one. It will get better,I promise!
Sue