Ask about the magic mouthwash if they haven't already offered it up as an option.

Hmm, what to put in a juicer and a blender. For juicing, I really like a basic green juice. So 4-6 stalks of celery, a cucumber, 2-3 leaves of kale, an apple (remove the core & seeds), half of a lemon (I don't use the entire half of the lemon peel, but put a little bit of it in there). You can tweak it based on what you might find in your fridge or what looks good to you at the veggie stand. Sometimes I'll throw some carrots, half a beet, spinach, a thumbnail sized chunk of ginger, or a pear in there. To me, this is to be used as a supplement to improve your diet. Even though I can eat almost everything again as I did before cancer, I still have the homemade green juice several times per week to make sure I'm getting enough fruit & veggies in my diet.

With the blender, you can make smoothies and milkshakes. For a smoothie, just use frozen fruit & add some liquid of choice (even more fruit juice, or water). Something like a frozen banana (just peel them & put the bananas in a bag in the freezer), a cup of other frozen fruit (blueberries, peaches, strawberries, mango, pineapple, or whatever you like), and some water or orange juice to thin it out. I'd also throw in a scoop of vanilla protein powder.

For milkshakes, I just kept a big 4 liter pail of vanilla ice cream in the freezer. When I wanted one, I'd add a few scoops into the blender, add a cup of milk and then whatever floated my boat. A couple of tablespoons of dark cocoa powder & a few tablespoons of peanut butter. Or a can of coconut milk. Or cocoa + malt powder. A cup of blueberries. Some cherry juice. Cocoa powder + some coffee I brewed in the Aeropress. There was no real recipe being followed - I just did what I wanted on a whim. I'd also add the whey protein powder if I felt I wasn't getting enough protein that day, but there's only so much your body can absorb & make use of.

Obviously these blender drinks are fairly high in calories, so don't overdo it if you can actually eat "regular" food! But for someone having difficulty eating & stuck with a liquid diet, it's an efficient way to keep your calories up while reducing the amount of food you have to try to force down.


Last edited by Vanpaddler; 02-02-2016 09:00 AM.

Dx 2014Jan29 (42 yr old otherwise fit nonsmoker)
SCC tongue stage III T3N0M0
subtotal glossectomy, partial neck dissection, RFFF, trach, NG tube 2014Feb25 16 days in hospital
RAD 25 zaps 2014May5-2014Jun9
Back to work, paddling & hiking shortly afterwards