Well I've almost given up on solid foods. Anybody able to survive on a total liquid diet by mouth. I want to be rid of the PEG tube, but am concerned about weather I'll be able to do a total liquid diet.

I've heard of ScandiShake. Can I get sample before buying mass quantities?

Any help would be appreciated!!
Lynn

Hi Lynn,

I had a total glossectomy in July 2003 and just had my trach and feeding tube removed on April 1st. Right now I'm strictly on a liquid diet and even though I've tried some soups consisting of mainly broth they still don't taste good even though I finished radiation 11/03. Plus I would have to consume ALOT of soup to make up my calorie intake for the day! I've even tried soup with small noodles but since I don't have a tongue, the noodles just seem to get lost in my mouth even when I try following it with water. I know I haven't given eating my best shot yet but right now I'm so tired of trying that I'm content on liquids. I have tried the Scandishakes (both strawberry and chocolate) and although I don't believe their website offers any samples to try, I would be happy to send you a sample of what I have here at home. The nice thing about these shakes is that when mixed with 8 oz. of whole milk generates 600 calories! I personally like the strawberry the best.

If you're interested is trying them, just let me know. You can send me an email with your home address and I'll get them off to you as soon as I can.

Take care, Nancy

hi Lynn,

after having my peg removed, i was on an essentially liquid diet for about a year. i ate huge amounts of ice cream. initially i could drink 12 oz of shake type stuff in about 45 minutes. let's just say that i had to make time for eating. i tried to drink water and it took about 4-6 months to go from 45 to 10 minutes to drink a glass.

my diet was just to keep me going... the docs told me to eat anything i could... that translated into about 4 or 5 gallons of ice cream per week. i also used Scandishakes... chocolate.

i got scandishakes in boxes of 6 packets for about $6-7... at the local grocery store.

now i eat fine... and often like to have a chocolate shake with lunch.. it goes so well with a cheeseburger.

cu,
larryb

Lynn,

I came across a chart with exact quantities/recipes for liquid diets using regular food but I can't find it. I will keep looking. Meanwhile, here is a document that gives about the same info. I hope it helps.

http://patienteducation.upmc.com/Pdf/PureedDiet.pdf

Ed

Dear Lynn,

I know it's in the archives but this recipe saved Dennis during chemo and rad.

2 cups ice cream
1/2 cup half-and-half
1 package instant breakfast
1 cup whole milk
3 TBS Ovaltine
1 TBS Malted Milk

It has about 1300 calories per serving.

I hope this helps.

Love,
Mandi

Lynn,
I finished radation on April 28, 2003 and have been living on Ensure, malts, soup, poached eggs, and sloppy mashed potates with gravy. I have no salvia or taste. I had cancer of the jaw bone, gum, and lymph nodes on the left side, 4th stage. I can't seem to gain much weight back, I'm under weight. Right now I'm fighting pneumoina since Feb. 7. That doesn't help the weight. Mary Lee

Lynn,
My husband had about half of his tongue and the floor of his mouth removed in Feb. of last year so he has to eat liquid/soft/pureed diet only. His PEG was taken out in November and he is doing great without it. He drinks 6 cans of Ensure daily. We buy the Wal-Mart equivalent of the Ensure Plus (a lot cheaper). He also eats whipped yogurts, pudding, milk shakes and we puree at least one meal a day for him.

Thanks all I knew you would come through. What grocery store can you get the scandishakes at?

Laurie, I just can't seem to get past the thought of pureed food.I tried beef stroganoff pureed, but I couldn't handle it. I pretty sure it's mental.

I appreciate all your help. Leaving town for a few days, I'll check in when I get back.

Lynn

hi Lynn,

Thanks all I knew you would come through. What grocery store can you get the scandishakes at?

Giant Grocery... which was just bought out by Stop&Shop. that was in Salisbury, MD... health food/vitamin isle.

the breakfast shake stuff is also good and widely available. use two packets per shake.

cu,
larryb

Thanks Larry!

Hi, I have been reading postings since my husband was diagnosed with pharyngeal cancer since September. He had radiation and chemo and the tumor is gone. He finished treatment in January and has not been able to eat solid food. Up until 8 weeks ago he had been living on Ensure. I have since bought a very powerful machine that pureeds all whole food. He now eats eggs that have been cooked and liquidified. I can put chicken, mashed potatos and vegetables into this machine and come up with a soup that is nectar thick. He is now eating food at every meal with Ensure or instant breakfast as supplements. He is getting in approximately 3000 calories a day. He lost about 50 lbs. so I am encouraged that he now can start to gain some weight. We are hoping that he can get back to eating solid food again but if not, he certainly can live on the diet he is on. I don't want to mention the name of the machine because I don't know if that would be considered a commercial posting. If you want to e mail me I can give you the info. [email protected] Another interesting piece of info would be that if you have a vetern's hospital near you, Ensure can be purchased in their canteen at half price. Hope this helps. Eileen

eileen.......There are a bunch of cheap and ineffective machines on the market, and I have wasted my money on a couple of them during my recovery phase. If you have found one that is really heavy duty and does the job well, please post its brand so that others can save a bit and not waste their money on weak machines that don't do the job, or which don't hold up over more than a couple of months.

Hi Brian,
I bought a Vita-Mix. This machine is worth every penny I spent on it. They also give you a 30 day money back guarantee trial so I thought you have nothing to lose. It has made such a difference in My husband's diet. Their web site is www.vitamix.com/household. I hope this can help others as much as it helped me. Eight weeks ago I was thinking of asking the doctors for a peg tube as I was so worried about how I was going to get the proper nutrition into him and also have it the nectar thickness that he needed. Eileen

hi lynn,

i ordered scandishake through their website for my sister. they don't have a sampler pack, but you can buy small quantities. the trick is the shipping cost which is not so little so it'll make buying small quantities pretty expensive. i ordered a 24 pack as it seemed to me that this product is better than ensure. anyway, here's their web address:

http://store.axcanscandipharm.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PLST&Store_Code=ASOS

also, any food can be pureed, as others have mentioned. if your stomach can tolerate it, it's probably best to not entirely rely on scandishake or ensure particularly because of high sugar content which is where the callories come from. everything i've read about nutrition advises against sugar as it feeds cancer cells.

as of tomorrow i'll be working on coming up with some high-callorie but healthy receipes that could work for tube-feeding for my sister. i'll share what i come up with. i figure if you can send it down through the tube you can swallow it too.

be well.

gita

My husband has been craving the taste of beef. I ran across this broth recipe in a favorite Italian cookbook and made it this week. Its quick, easy and a little different tasting than canned soups. I know it does'nt have alot of calories, but does offer a change of pace.
Crazy Broth
4 cups water
3 ribs celery with leaves roughly chopped
4 bullion cubes[chicken or beef]no msg if possible
1 carrot chopped
1 onion quartered
salt[optional]
Simmer together 20 or 30 min. I strained the veggies and mushed the carrots and onions thru a sieve for extra flavor. I also added a 1\2 cup of Quaker quick cook barley[John loves it]and cooked for an additional 15 min. This broth is good without any additions for a total liquid diet. Amy