Hi Barry!

Sounds like you are doing great! Glad to hear you are still trying to eat as best you can. The further along you go with rads the more challenging it may become. Getting yourself into a routine with pushing daily intake now will help to get thru everything easier and hopefully continue on as habit if/when eating does become a struggle.

Generally broth based soups do not have many calories but they do help your daily fluid intake numbers. Cream soups may be easier to eat than broth based soups, especially for those with mouth sores. During rads and the first few weeks/months of recovery its all about getting the most calories per swallow or sip. The more the better as will be the case for at least your next 3 or so months.

Other helpful eating tips include...

Use a food processor to help chop up things you are trying to eat
use a fork and knife to cut pieces instead of biting into something
brush and floss after every meal
rinse and spit 4+ a day with the mixture of 1 cup warm water, 1 tsp baking soda and 1 tsp salt (gently swish it around your mouth for a minute, then spit it out) (salt can burn radiation caused mouth sores and a general mouth sensitivity, if necessary cut the salt back to 1/2 or 1/4 tsp salt ... if after cutting back on the salt you still cant bear the salt induced burning, omit it completely ... it really is very beneficial to have the salt in there so try your best to keep some in your concoction)
As recently discussed in another thread use prescription Magic Mouthwash (MM) which has several variations, the one I used was maalox, benedryl and lidocaine. That will numb your mouth for 15-60 minutes after swishing it around in your mouth and spitting it out which should allow you ample time to eat.
****EAT SLOWLY!!!! Take your time, budget your time so you allow yourself at least double the amount of time it takes you to eat so you arent in a hurry. Frequently OC patients begin to feel the effects of rads will find eating is progressively more difficult and time consuming, the effort of eating wears a person out
When eating, do not talk or be involved in conversations, stay focused, pay close attention to what you are doing, cut or mash up (a food processor, blender or mixer helps to minimize chewing and makes eating easier) whatever you are attempting to eat to help reduce how much you need to chew something which should in turn reduce the tongue biting
add butter, sour cream (many dairy items help cut the acidity of foods), gravy to make food easier to swallow
seek out a nutritionist at your treatment facility
avoid buying large quantities of items as the sense of taste can come and go, eventually food loses its flavor and things may taste overly salty, burnt, like cardboard
eat smaller portions more often
keep eating as much as possible
write everything down... every single day keep an accurate count of what/when/how much you take in per meal or snack and have a seperate running total of calories and water intake, even count the flushes of water

Along with your intake documentation, write down an ongoing daily log of any and all medications taken including when/strength of medication/name of the medication/dosage.

Even patients who have the best memory can have a hard time remembering every detail of their day to see if they have taken in enough. This can be very important when referring to medications. Some patients in your situation, will feel as if they're in a fog and begin to forget things they'll lose track of time... AKA chemo brain! Always better to write it down when it happens so you know you have it to fall back on down the road. Pluys if your doc asks you specifics about your at home routines you have the ongoing daily logs.

Recently there have been discussions of Magic Mouthwash (MM) which is a concoction of lidocaine, maalox, benedryl (thats what the MM I had was made of ). If you dont already have this, ask your doc for a prescription. The MM will temporarily numb your mouth anywhere from about 15 minutes to an hour. Directions --- shake the bottle, swish a large teaspoon of MM around in your mouth for a minute then spit it out. Do NOT swallow it!!! Even if the directions say to swish and swallow, dont do it or you could have bigger problems by choking and not even realizing it.

The following list I started 10.5 years ago. WOW!!! Time sure flies!!! These foods have a smoother texture, are less spicy and most patients have found them to be a helpful tool during rads and recovery.


List of Easy to Eat Foods