What a revoltin' development this is! Nice to see that you are around though.

Liam

Liam, welcome to our group.

Thank you for your hospitality, ChristineB. I have just recently been diagnosed and have begun both chemo and rads at the beginning of last week. I have already almost completely lost my sense of taste. I'm here to learn how others have coped and to share whatever I have that might be helpful to others who find themselves in the same pickle as I find myself.

Hi, Liam
Since your taste is already fading, you will have remind yourself that nutrition is important - even if it is not tasty! Do you have a caregiver to help you as the treatments progress?
Maria

Welcome. Visit often and read a lot of the information as it will bring you lots of knowledge of what you are facing.

Liam - welcome to the family. Listen to what Christine said above. As you lose your taste, so goes your appetite. I had many days where I had no desire to eat at all, not even one meal. Do that for a couple of days and you can get mal-nourished quickly, to the point of needing hospitalization to fix it.

Don't go down that road, even though you may have no desire to eat and it may actually hurt to swallow, you have to force yourself to do so. Ensure Plus has the calorie density you will need, vanilla, chocolate and strawberry are all very tolerable. My doc said I needed 7 of them per day to get enough nutrition. That's like one bottle every two hours from wake up to bed time every day. Vanilla sells out quickly, so when it's available, stock up to the tune of even 3 or 4 six packs at a time. Consider giving one shelf of your refrigerator to Ensure for the next couple of months.

Some on the forum will pooh-pooh Ensure saying it has too much sugar. There are less sugar substitutes, but I think they are quite a bit more expensive.

You will likely lose weight during treatment anyway, the trick is to not lose too much weight. I lost 42 pounds during treatment, others have lost more, lots more. Had I lost anymore weight they would have put me on a PEG feeding tube, something else you don't really want to experience unless you have too.

I can't stress enough that this nutrition stuff is extremely important while you are in treatment. Cancer is what they call hyper metabolic, it eats a high percentage of what you intake every day. The treatment is also hyper metabolic, combine those two together and there are few calories left over for your normal body use. So, in effect you are having to eat enough for 3 people.

I hope you now understand the seriousness of nutrition during treatment; screw this up and you can make your recovery way more difficult.

Now, go get something to eat. Welcome to the family.

Tony

My wife is helping me with all aspects of my care. The magnitude of that commitment is quickly becoming clear.

My appetite has completely deserted me. I'm trying to eat foods that smell good because I hope they will have some flavor. I've lost about 20 pounds already so I'm starting to drink Ensure and Glucerna shakes for nutrition. I can still taste some of the Naked brand of fruit and vegetable smoothies too.

Thanks to everybody for your warmth and hospitality. I'm going to browse through the forums and check back here periodically.

Hi Liam,

I like your introduction! You sound like you've got your head on straight, like Tony and Hellion (to name just a couple of most of us here) which is a huge advantage in dealing with this condition.

I want to echo and endorse what Tony said about nutrition, and add that Boost, a competitor to Ensure, makes a 500 calorie version of their nutritional drink. It's called "Boost VHC" and probably will have to be special ordered. I know that CVS carries it, and usually will have it for you the next day after you order it. It's the same price (!!!) as the regular Boost (here, that's just a tic under $50 for a 27 count box).

Also, check the prices on Jevity, the common nutrition mix for use in PEG feeding. It doesn't taste wonderful, but the good thing about losing your sense of taste is that you can drink Jevity and not be bothered by the taste!

But whatever route you go, make sure that you get 2500 cal/day! At least while you're undergoing radiation or its side effects. Healing and surviving make extreme demands on your system for energy, and will get it by consuming your body if you do not give it extra fuel when it needs it.

Hi Liam... go for nutrition, and just chow down... seriously. This is until it becomes too hard to eat. Then switch if you can to liquid nutrition, either your own homemade high protein smoothies or ensure. Keep yourself well hydrated and force yourself to eat and drink even if it hurts. You need to maintain your swallow. Hugs... and welcome. And give your wife a kiss.