For me - I lost interest in eating. I now eat because I have to. To this day, there are certain foods that I can not even bear to think about eating. Eating and enjoying food are to a certain extent a mental issue. My OC explained it as - our mouths have been abused and beaten up and our minds have decided to protect our mouths. Have him continue to try to eat and I am sure speech therapy will help too. But it was a huge mental jump for me to eat orally - consistently. I had my PEG removed too soon (my fault) and have struggled with continued weight loss and malnutrition issues. So - keep that PEG in and go for the baby steps. Once he finds a food he will eat - fix it every day til he tires of it - then move onto something else.

Eating is still an issue with me and my family. I find absolutely no pleasure in eating any more. It's more like a chore. Yet eating is at the top of the list of great things to do for them. Everyone wants to bring me food and take me out to eat and they think I don't appreciate it. They fail to understand that I would just as soon visit and drink a can of Boost or Ensure and not work trying to eat to make THEM happy. I had my PEG removed too soon too, and maybe that is why I have such ill feelings about eating. I have to eat because my daughter gets after me (she's an RN) and I know she's right. We have to get those calories in. Carmen is right, find something easy and tasty to eat. For me oatmeal, cream of wheat, and soups are my favorite foods nowadays. They just slide down. Ice cream was my favorite but I can't eat it with this new chemo - boo.

Barb, I'm with ya sister. It's a pain in the ass for me and I really have to be motivated to eat anymore. My swallowing mech is worthless and with half of my tongue and face paralyzed I have to make the choice of talking (which I've had to do more of lately) or eating solids...so I talk.

My conundrum is that my body is starting to revert to my "natural" self and packing on muscle...so I was constantly trying to eat. Now, I'm slamming Ensure Plus mixed with protien powder (mixed with coffee and 5 hour in the morning ) to maintain weight and energy. I push myself in my days so energy and fuel is all I see with food anymore, which is a tough one to swallow so to speak.

Where I've always kept a good eating plan I really enjoyed cooking. I BBQ like a fool but in my previous life my wife and I enjoyed wine and cooking family meals after a long day working...it was our time. Now, we cook for a living, mostly the recipes we perfected during that time, and it's too tough for me to think about enjoying any of it. I don't think about it much anymore but it's a definite social aspect I'll never fully enjoy again.

Anyway....it's good to see your posts Barb, love you girl, been on my mind lately

Eric

I remember a few weeks during the final stages of RT and for 3 or 4 weeks after where it just hurt too much to eat. I kept drinking water as I was advised that you can forget how to swallow. Once I started eating again, I very quickly stopped using the PEG and now 8 months on its hard to believe how normal my eating has become. Sure, I sometimes chase stuff around mouth and some foods seem to make my mouth go immediately dry. I've found sipping very small amounts of soya milk helps without diluting the flavour too much. My saliva has improved over the months but you have to be patient. I find exercise helps - I remember being stupidly proud of myself the first time I managed to spit while riding my bicycle without it just flopping out of my mouth onto my shoulder. Its hard those first few weeks but it really does get better.

Good for you Martin - that's awesome! I know I can't quite spit yet but I'm starting to get good at licking my lips - something we take for granted when eating!

My father who had tongue surgery in july 2010 and radiation for 6 weeks has a peg tube that he really wants to be rid of, but even with it he's not getting enough calories.He has creamed soup with yogurt or half and half added, good powdered vitamins,whey protein, ice cream and and a juicer for veggies and fruit and Ensure in the tube. They didn't give him any swallow tests or advice about how to swallow. He swallows water but it takes him two or three tries. His taste buds are not regenerating fast at all and things taste bad or burns his mouth. I have read that 50 to 100 mg of zinc will help the taste buds has anyone tried it with any success? The swallow/speech therapy he's had is minimal and is all about speech,not swallowing.

My father says he can't and refuses to try even chicken broth which is the same as the water, because everything tastes horrid. what is a swallow test? I really admire the tenacity of most people on this forum. My dad is 82 and feels he's running out of time to heal but is working on his attitude. If he could taste and eat something it would be great.

I took Zinc and believe it helped me. Unless his RO says otherwise, give it a try. I know HUP recommends it. Also is he using regular Ensure or Ensure Plus? Ensure Plus has 350 calories and tastes a lot better. I don't know if he can do Carnation VHC but that is like 550 calories. He needs at least 2500 calories a day and lots of protein. I was told 80 gm of protein a day, but I am a 110 lb female. I imiagine larger men need more.

Take care,
Eileen

Tell him to toughen up and swallow the bullet. Ya gotta eat to survive. Could this be a try for attention? I'm not being a smart ass but things happen that we don't know we are doing. Just keep pushing him and giving him an extra hug when he does good.

Thanks to a local bakery and their bakers, I have regained about 6 lbs with his cake donuts, can't handle the dough they make glazed ones or anything else out of, but cake ones soaked in hot coffee work. That and a lot of good cookies work for me along with the soupy foods that don't need chewed. Remember, no teeth, just a piece of tongue, dead jaw bone perforated with holes where it is slowly rotting to just bone. Oh for a piece of real meat or a good piece of veggies. Bit I am making it.