Hi - I asked a question about heartburn earlier this week but I have another question that's been bothering me.

John had his second cycle of cisplatin 5 days ago. He had heartburn for 2 days and then got help with that thanks mainly to the feedback from people on this site.

He has been very tired the last few days but does not really have nausea. However, for some reason that I can't understand, he just doesn't want to take hardly any food or water by mouth or by feeding tube. This happened for six days after his first dose of chemo but at that time he had just had his tube inserted and it was giving him some problems. Also, I felt he was in part experiencing shock from the severity of the treatment.

I don't want to nag him like crazy but he is sleeping a lot and I feel that I have to wake him up every few hours to at least take a can of food with some water mixed in. Mostly he says no. He can't describe why he doesn't feel like taking it but just says he will have something later. He does this repeatedly throughout the day until I get very cross and insist, something I don't like to do because he is so ill. He's probably had about 2 to 3 cans a day of boost plus ( 600-900 cals only) for the last 5 days.

Last night he was sick to his stomach when he cleaned his teeth but he said he thought that was mostly gagging on the ever present mucous rather than from the can he took by tube 2 hours before.

I can see him losing weight before my very eyes and the doctor, side effects nurse and dietitian have all stressed how he has to have lots of fluids to reduce the potential damage from the cisplatin.

Any suggestions on how I can successfully encourage him to consume more? Is there a psychological aspect to it? He is taking a mild anti-depressant to help him through.

Thanks a lot for taking the time to read my post.
Mary