Thanks for all the ideas, everyone, and I will keep all of them in mind,
as we search for tolerable food.
We have been back to the clinic and now have lidocaine (swish and
spit) and tylenol 3 with codeine. And this is only 2 weeks in!
His tongue is extremely sore, as is back of throat and inside of cheeks;
Also sore gums.
We have jumped from eating pretty much anything to soft foods like
soup and scrambled eggs. Luckily he's been eating oatmeal for about
6 months and likes it. I've been pureeing blueberries in about 4 Tb
of milk with some whey protein powder to add to the oatmeal.
I'm going to try the enzyme drops for the possible lactose problem,
but as you say, with the codeine he may not have to worry about the runs
much longer.
He tends to suffer from depression anyway and says he doesn't know how he's going to get through this when the pain is so bad now.
I'm trying to be encouraging and doing the "one day at a time" routine. It's so easy for me (or anyone) to say when I'm not feeling his physical pain.
Anne