lee,

Look into the Carnation Instant Breakfast VHC. It has almost double the calories of Ensure or Boost Plus so you would have to swallow as much when the pain and nausea worsen.

Hang in there. You can do it...you will find the mental strenght. It is your life that you are fighting for and there isn't any better reason than that to show this cancer who's boss.

Todd also has lost taste for all foods. He just had first Chemo and into 2 week of rad. Any suggestions on foods that he can tolerate?

Linda,
I lost all taste for foods at the third week of chemo/rad and, eventually, quit eating altogether and lived solely on my PEG for several months. However, once I began to be able to swallow again my favorites were chocolate milkshakes that I would make at home, and matzo ball soup, which, unbelievably sustained me two meals a day for over a year.
The good news is that in the past couple of years I have regained the ability to swallow and taste just about anything that is not too spicy, even including breads, nuts and even popcorn. (with a lot of water to wash any and all of this stuff down, of course)
My wife and I went out last night for a wonderful Valentine's dinner and I ate a delicious lightly blackened red fish with crabmeat and lime butter. I enjoyed the taste of the salad and of the fish and vegetables as much as I ever did before cancer treatment. Desserts also taste wonderful again. Strangely cokes and Dr. Pepper's taste like unsweetened syrup.
By the way, four and one half years after treatments...I still really like chocolate Hi Protein Boost and always keep it in my office and golf bag for snacks. My golf partners like it too and have taken to pinching Boost from my locker and golf bag!

Best of luck,
Danny G.

Toward the end of my husband's radiation I was buying out the turkey pot pie soup and chicken pot pie soup at the grocery. One is Campbells the other Progresso. Besides scrambled eggs (with milk added for moisture) and boost that was about it. He also liked the Campbells double noodle chicken soups, but the cream ones have more calories.

Again, thanks everyone. I am having luck with the eggs over easy, grits, and shells and cheese really watered down. I see my onc. tomorrow for labs so we'll see how it goes. I am having a little troulble finding the carnation VHC. I'll keep looking. I noticed too, that my jaws are tightening up overnight. I think it is all so odd because it happens over time and not right after a treatment. It's just hard to understand I guess because I'm used to either being sick or not, with this it's just strangely different. Thanks Again. Your posts really helped me find some things to keep my health up as well as encourage me.

Lee,

You have to order the VHC from a pharmacy. My jaw did the same as yours and it still does today. I use a stack of tongue depressors to stretch my jaw a couple of times a day. Some other folks use a device called therabite I think, maybe they'll come along and tell you about it. It's very important that you keep your jaw working properly.

Lee, Tim's right about the jaw issues. I have had a rough time with it as well. I have a close relative who is an oral surgeon, and he made me an acrylic wedge for stretching the jaw muscles. I have also had great success with massage therapy to ease some of the trismus.

After my radiation ended last fall, I was barely able to put one finger between my teeth. After three massages on my jaw, neck, shoulder and upper back, that increased by over 100%.

Even with the improvement, it still gets really stiff if I don't exercise it regularly. The Therabite system works well, but it is several hundred dollars, and I think the tongue depressors or a wedge work equally well, and certainly cost a lot less.
Wayne

Lee,

I found yawning helped stretch my muscles a lot and I learned how to control the yawn when it became painful. I never needed anything else but I didn't have any surgery.

lee33:
I have the same issues with getting my mouth open, especially in the morning or when I've not opened/stretched for a while. I agree with the posts above regarding the tongue depressors and yawning. After seeing a therapist and going through a few massages, and doing some simple exercises for my jaw and tongue, things started getting better. I also started using Biotene moisturizing gum, which has helped me with both my jaw as well as working my tongue. My therapist did say to take it easy with the gum and not over do it for long periods, but I chew a couple pieces a day. I found it neat to chew gum for the first time in over a year even if it wasn't for very long periods. You might want to run that by your Dr. first. Glad to hear the eggs and grits are working for you. I also had luck with some cereals by letting them soak in milk and get mushy first.
Sounds like you're doing great!!
Best Wishes,

Steve

Lee,

I am 10 treatments in and know what you mean! I have lost all taste except for strawberry which I can taste on the outside of my tounge like it is very far away(if that makes sense). I was not quite ready for how fast the pain set in for me, it was literally overnight. Good luck and I hope all goes well for the rest of your treatments!

BILL