Dear Stacey, I'm sorry that you are having such a hard time. Would your husband agree to a bolus feeding tube which goes right into the stomach? My husband has one and people are not even aware that he has one. If your husband feels light-headed and sick, it is possible that he is dehydrated. Can the RO make him go in for IV's?

Talk to your husband and ask him what HE can do to help himself heal and what goals he can set for himself. Let him know that you will be there to assist him to reach his goals. He can take control of that part of his life and prove to the doctors that he is man enough to get well.

Stacey

It's one thing to be stubborn, it's quite another to be stupid.
Since your husband seems to have an overinflated image of his masculinity (too bad you are not local so I could drive over and tell him in person and dare him to do something about it - after a fight, guys bond and I wouldn't hurt him too much), sometimes, like judo, that can be used against him. My suggestion is to smile and say how you have read here on OCF that some men find it just too difficult to force down Ensure, or other drinks and you understand that not everybody can do that. The other option is to say that some men just don't want to bother with all that liquid sissy drinks so they get a PEG tube right into their stomach. What's a little hole to a real man, right? I don't know what would work best for him.
You have tried reason and facts without success.
Seriously, doesn't he have a brother or father or buddy who can talk some sense into him. If he cannot stomach the drinks, then he had to have a PEG tube.
I'm so sorry he is being so mean to you when all you are trying to do here is keep him alive.
Charm

Stacey, I get that boost takes like crap. I agree, but they are a necessary evil if he can't manage anything else. I am also exceedingly stubborn - sign Taurus born in the year of the ox. You don't get any more stubborn than me, but I wanted to live, and that's what it came down to - get busy living or get busy dying.

Tell him to stop being an ass and if he needs an ego boost, that he has to live for you if not himself.

He needs proper nutrition and hydration or he'll slide into a black hole - his body needs proper food, (or ensure, boost etc...) to boost his immune system and help him heal so that the chemo and rads can do their job efficiently. People do not realize how delicate our body is in terms of nutritional balance and healing. I have never understood people who don't do whatever they can to get he best possible outcome. Tell him it takes 12 swallows (for me - I'm a woman) to chug an ensure. He only has to do it 5 - 6 times a day - depending on how calorie dense it is - it takes less than a minute and will give him the protein and nutrition required to heal - without it - it will take longer even after treatment - to get back to almost normal. Also radiation and chemo damage tissues. So aside from fighting infection, having to maintain normal body function, and fight cancer - he has to heal. Lack of proper nutrition along with hydration, stalls all that progress. Ps ramen noodles have limited nutritional value. I too got by without a peg as I couldn't use the one they put in, but the end of treatment and first week post treatment were the worst and to make up for not eating - I chugged high protein shakes. Best of luck.