Michelle- I sure hope this helps Dan. It has been the best thing for Neil. As Cindy stated, he can go about most of his business while getting nutrition. Neil has taken his with him in the backpack the service provided. I never thought he would do it but it really was easy and didn't draw too much attention. It will give his throat some much needed rest. if you need any advice just pm me and I'll send my phone number. We had some issues in the beginning but they were resolved quickly. Neil has had his for 7 months now so we're pros.
Sue

Hi. This is my first post. My husband just completed his 16th radiation and had one cisplatin treatment 2 and a half weeks ago. He will have his next cisplatin next Monday and Tuesday (they are splitting the dosage in to two days in hopes that his kidneys will handle it better). Last Thursday the difficulty with eating began. Today he only had liquids. We did a ScaniShake which we got up to 900 calories with canned peaches, protein powder, yogurt, and half and half. We were also able to get him to drink some beef broth. Other than that, it's been slim. We put lentil soup in the blender which he ate. He is in so much pain that swallowing anything is horrible. He is opposed to the feeding tube. Any suggestions? It's horrible to see him in so much pain, feeling hungry, but choosing not to eat because of pain. To keep him off the feeding tube how many calories a day does he need?
Any suggestions are welcome.
Thanks,
Lisa

Lisa - welcome to OCF you'll find this is a wonderful and supportive place to be. One thing that will help us help you much better is if you take a few moments and read the FAQ and new posters info and add your husband's details to the signature line. You will want to go to the introduce yourself forum and tell us about you guys.

Regarding your questions here:
1st) the appropriate number of calories - they should have a dietician where your husband is being treated. they will give you the best info re: calories needed; they can also provide you with high-calorie recipes, ideas, etc.
2nd) your RO or MO should be aware of this and they can prescribe pain medication as necessary to help him eat; they can also tell you at what point it would be critical for your husband to get a tube

good luck and again, welcome.

Lisa,

I know you're new but you should really start your own post rather than coming in on an existing one as it allows readers to focus just on your questions.

It also helps if you include some information in your signature line so that responders get the overall picture before they respond.

I'm sorry that things have started to go downhill but it happens to about 90% of us during Tx. I would think that he needs at least 48 ozs of water and 2000 calories EACH AND EVERY DAY starting today. Don't let him slack off one day. That should be your goal as he probably won't care and will even resist your efforts but if you aren't successful it can and most likely will lead to further and serious complications.

Consider Carnation Instant Breakfast VHC. It has a whopping 560 cals in an 8 oz can. You must order it from your pharmacist (like Walgrens or CVS)even though you don't need a prescription.

Welcome to this site as it will become the best tool in your cancer fighting arsenal outside of your medical team.

Dan's WBC was 850 today so they wouldn't do chemo treatment. The rest of his bloodwork looked good. I asked about the injection (neurlasta sp?) and the MO and nurse said they thought the side effects were worse than the benefits... PEG tube surgery is Tuesday - they will re-check counts that morning.

Dan wanted to go to work after we left the cancer center (since we have a free 1/2 day) and I told him the doc said for today and the weekend he is supposed to take it easy and be on mild bed rest. I can't get him to rest for anything so I just flat out lied!!!! I hope it helps him. This is when it pays off that he can't hear and that he leaves most communication up to me.

And he's nauseas today, which seems weird because we didn't have the chemo...

Kids are gone to be with family and my house is quiet. I feel like I won a prize. I am going to lay on the couch with my dog and have a little quiet time watching Fox News :-)

Nausea could also be his meds or dehydration. I suffered from nausea a great deal towards the end and 2 weeks post Tx. If I coughed I would throw up. If I tried to drink something I had to hold my mouth shut and hope that would stop my gag reaction. I wasn't eating or drinking and I didn't have this site to tell me otherwise. I was a mess. I finally stopped all pain meds because I thought (and still don't know for sure) they were making me sick. It was probably a combo of everything.

Thanks David! It's 95% the coughing, choking, mucuous gagging deal, but on occasion he'll do an actual "throwing-up". I think you hit the nail on the head when you a combo of everything.

Good luck with the 2 events this weekend at the restaurant.

Ugh, We are already at the restaurant and have been here since 5 am. I couldn't sleep much thinking of everything I could forget. It will all be over Sunday at 5 pm, just in time to get ready for work Monday. LOL

Hi Michelle
Sorry to hear about Dan. Craig suddenly unable to swallow today too so I guess they have both hit their threshold being about the same distance into their treatments.

Craig's been finding Canada Dry Ginger Ale really helpful in clearing his throat. I think it's probably terrible for his teeth (I make him brush extra). Unfortunately we ran out last night. I've just been out to get some but he won't drink it yet because it's not cold I'm hoping that we won't have to resort to going down to ER today (not least because we got 4 inches of snow overnight!) but we'll see what happens.

Interesting that someone comments about meds. He only started taking the morphine yesterday (on doctor's advice) so it makes me wonder if it has anything to do with it? Up to then he's been doing liquid T3.

Craig's last (3rd) chemo is scheduled for Tuesday with bloodwork done yesterday (Friday). We haven't heard anything bad so I assume it's going ahead but I guess we'll know for sure on Monday.

Marina

Michelle,
it is called neulasta, I got that at the end of my carboplatin cycles. I think I received this 2 times, it was not a big deal. As far as side effects go... I could not say that there were any. Did this work?? Hard to say, but I did not miss any (chemo) treatments so from that perspective it was a success.

M