Hi,

I just have a partial glossectomy and I have trouble eating and swallowing. I tried to eat liquid food but find myself hungry most of the time. Swallowing is an issue as I tried to eat mash potatoes. Is there any advice as to what food to eat? I now find eating a chore then pleasure.

Reading some of your earlier posts it looks like you only had the surgery around a week ago?
I think you need to give yourself a little time to recover and I am wondering why the hospital did not give you instructions on what you should try to eat.
You certainly should not be going hungry and I am wondering how you would go with smoother food like custards, ice creams, jelly.
Also do you have a blender in which you can make smoothies. Just add plenty of liquid and throw in some things for vitamins like fruit and eggs.
As you heal you may find some things from the list on this OCF link.
http://oralcancersupport.org/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=94621#Post94621
Good luck and let us know how you get on.
Gabriele

Hi,

Yes, it has only been about a week since my surgery. I was really anxious to get better. Trying to eat normally as i can but it turn out to be frustrating not to be able to eat solid food. (Sorry for the rant) Thanks for the pointer. Will check out the link.

You should give yourself more time and less stress. When the swelling go down, you will regain mobility of your tongue.

Try to eat often in small amount, coz that's what my mother do now.
I have make puree creamy soup for my mother. And I usually put a lot of grains, and tofu into the soup, and then puree them with a high speed blender, it helps to make you feel full for a longer period of time.

Ron is coming up to his 1 yr anniversary(?)since his operation. He is still not able to eat what he used to eat before and probably never will BUT he is eating finally!It took him a very long time and he still has issues with certain foods, he feels if it's too much like work to eat it, than it's not worth the effort. He even has a little belly going! Yay! He lives on Stouffers Mac and Chz mostly or any kind of frozen pasta dishes, they put too much pepper and spices sometimes for him but he's getting better with that strong sense he has now for salt/pepper/spices he also eats lots of small curd cottage cheese BUT now he is able to eat some cereals! Cinnamon Burst Cheerios and today he did Frosted Mini wheats, he let them soak till soft and ate a whole bowl! He's so excited, he does eat cupcakes, by putting them in a coffe mug filled halfway with milk and they turn to mush(don't look good to me lol)and the usual oatmeal. He can eat pastas that have a lot of sauce to them to make it easier to slide down. So finally he is now up to 132! Woo hoo!

Due to a bandage in my mouth after my partial glossectomy I was no allowed to eat anything other than liquids for two and a half weeks after surgery. I added mashed potatoes to creamed soups to both thin down the potatoes and bulk up the soups. Whey protein shakes with oat bran and lots of fruit and a wee bit of spinach were helpful too at filling me up.

After the bandage was removed it was still a couple of weeks before I could maneuver solid food effectively. I'm ten weeks post surgery now and can eat almost anything I want although I still get food stuck on the roof of my mouth or on back molars and need a finger to dislocate.

I know its a pain in the tail, absolutely no fun at all, but it does get better. I promise!