Hi Jennifer --

The important thing to convey to your husband is that FOOD IS MEDICINE. This is posted on the OCF web site and also, was hammered at my husband by his hospital nutritionist, both his oncologists and his ENT (who herself had HNC 15 years ago and is a survivor). He needs to take his "medicine" in order to recover. It would be great if he would try to move beyond the packaged formulas and try things with more protein and fiber, like certain mild fruit juices and fruit and vegetable purees, or very soft scrambled eggs (perhaps with added milk and cheese). For example, I made Maryland cream of crab soup for my husband and put it through the blender to make a lovely puree that would be acceptable served at any restaurant. So he doesn't like soup -- well, it's medicine, you don't have to LIKE it, just TAKE it!

And try to make him understand that things can get better but he has to experiment and push the envelope. Does he have any sense of taste at all? If so, what can he taste? Can you build on that to urge him to branch out?

I should add that not everyone ends up unable to taste or enjoy foods. Taste can return, slowly for some, more rapidly for others, ditto the ability to swallow more normally. Your husband should have an evaluation by a speech/swallowing therapist and get exercises prescribed to improve his swallowing ability. Quite frankly, this should be a part of every HNC patient's routine treatment and should be asked,nay, demanded, if not offered. (Both our two moderate-sized local hospitals have the capabilities to do these tests, so it is not limited to large CCCs.)

It can be a long road back but you have to take that first step and not just stand at the curb...

Gail