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| | Joined: Jun 2009 Posts: 17 Member | OP  Member
Joined: Jun 2009 Posts: 17 | My husband has 10 radiation treatments to go and I brought him home for the weekend. The nutritionist told me to keep track of what he ate and sent 6 cans of Endure home with us. I feel like a failure because he has been unable to eat anything I make. I made a milkshake with 4 scoops of vanilla ice cream, 2 raw eggs, a cup of chocolate soy milk and a lot of instant breakfast. It tasted great to me but it burned his mouth.
All he will eat at the Tampa VA nursing home is mashed potatoes and gravy.
He refused to get a PEG and has just recently agreed to a pickline since he needs an IV every night to aid his kidneys in flushing the amifostine.
This is so frustrating. What can I feed him when he comes home on the weekends? I think they may stop weekend home visits since I am unable to feed him.
Husband 79 metastatic cancer neck lymph nodes, biopsy Moffitt showed base of tongue, tonsil & vallecula. VA in Tampa - Teeth out 6/16, Radiation 5X7 and Erbitux 7/13 Carboplatin 8/4 - Amifostine added 8/6
| | | | | Joined: Sep 2006 Posts: 8,311 Senior Patient Advocate Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) | | Senior Patient Advocate Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts)
Joined: Sep 2006 Posts: 8,311 | Listen this Tx is really tough and it's normal for him to find discomfort when trying to swallow but without the Peg HE MUST CONTINUE TO GET HYDRATION AND CALORIES or he will end up much much worse.
The idea now is to have him spend the least amount of time getting the most calories he can into his body and one way is to get him Carnation Instant Breakfast VHC which has 560 cals in a small 8 oz can. I could only drink them room temp and all he has to do is drink 5 or 6 of those a day to get the cals he needs. You can get them over the internet or from the pharmacy depts of places like Walgreen or CVS. You don't need a prescription.
Other than that there is a nasal feeding tube that is relatively simple to get put in (non surgical) and is meant for temporary situations just like this.
MOST IMPORTANT, HE MUST GET HIS CALORIES (2500 to 3000) AND WATER (48ozs)EACH AND EVERY DAY.
David
Age 58 at Dx, HPV16+ SCC, Stage IV BOT+2 nodes, non smoker, casual drinker, exercise nut, Cisplatin x 3 & concurrent IMRT x 35,(70 Gy), no surgery, no Peg, Tx at Moffitt over Aug 06. Jun 07, back to riding my bike 100 miles a wk. Now doing 12 Spin classes and 60 outdoor miles per wk. Nov 13 completed Hilly Century ride for Cancer, 104 miles, 1st Place in my age group. Apr 2014 & 15, Spun for 9 straight hrs to raise $$ for YMCA's Livestrong Program. Certified Spin Instructor Jun 2014.
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