My husband has been recently diagnosed with state 3 squamous cell carsomona at the base of the tongue. He is starting chemo next week on Thurs. He just had his wisdom teeth out yesterday. We are pretty stunned and annehume@maine.rr.com we don't know what is in store for us. . . .just taking one thing at a time for now. He hasn't smoked for 20 years but was a daily drinker. I want to learn a lot about how to help him nutritionally through this.
Anne

Hi Anne,
Welcome from another "Maniac".........born and raised in Maine........moved from there when I was 28. I was much further North then you, up near the Canadian border, but nothing beats Maine way of life. My sister and mom still live there.

I wish you luck with your journey. Walk through it knowing that you can make it.
Minnie

Anne,

No radiation?

What flavor of chemo?

Many of us were either non smokers or smoked but quit many, many years ago. HPV 16 is now targeted as a cause.

Thanks for your responses. I don't know what kind of Chemo he will have yet. I just know that they are hooking up some kind of a slow release pack this Thurs. He will receive radiation after that. I understand that getting good nutrition is a challenge. He wants to avoid the feeding tube if at all possible. I have ordered a "vita-mix" and hope to create some nutricous liquid foods for him.

Anne, you can search recipes here and shakes and the Carnation Instant Breakfast that has over 500 cal. per 8 ozs.The vita-mix will help you tremendously. Keep a very accurate weight chart and record calories and liquids every meal or snack. I also kept a fairly good record of vitamins and minerals in the foods John was eating on a daily basis until he went totally peg. Put your dietitian hat on and go for it. Best wishes, Amy

Anne,

The Carnation product she memtioned is the Instant Breakfast VHC available only through the pharmacy at Walgrens, CVS, etc. It's easy to get and will save him time and swallowing. I also did not have a tube and that product is worth it's weight in gold. I still drink 1 can a day.

An employee of my dentist lent me her Vita-Mix and I never used it because by the time I couldn't eat solid foods my throat hurt so much that I only wanted to swallow the least amount of liquids to get by so I turned to nutritionally balanced supplements like Ensure and Boost Plus until I found the VHC stuff.

Please find out what type of chemo he is given. It's probably Cisplatin.

The rad is not concurrent with the chemo?

Anne,
I too wish you both the best. It's an overwelming thing, but you can make it through. I didn't have chemo, however I did have 17 hours worth of surgery to remove, then rebuild my lower left jaw with fibula, titanium and a tissue transplant from my forearm. 8 weeks later I followed up with 30 treatments of radiation.

I avoided a feeding tube, but it's tough. You have to adopt a different approach to food...you don't eat for pleasure, you eat to live. High calorie liquid diets become the norm, and for me I just viewed them as another medication I took 4 times a day.

There are a number of different brands of nutrition drinks available. I know the Carnation VHC has been mentioned repeatedly, but what works for some won't for others.

I know when I started my journey, I quickly found out that most of the varieties other people recommended I couldn't tolerate for one reason or another. I finally found my solution in Resource 2.0, also in the 500+ calorie range. Try several different types first, a can or two at a time instead of investing in case lots untried.

That way, you won't find yourself in the same boat as a lot of us, with cases of drinks sitting around that we can't stand. That got expensive, really quickly.

One other thing that hasn't been mentioned is fluids intake. Even though your husband may wind up drinking his nutrition completely, you can't minimize the importance of adequate hydration.

Even with a water bottle in my hand constantly, I still wound up in hospital on fluid replacement I.V. for a couple of days. Dehydration is a more immediate danger than lack of nutrition. You can get by without food for much longer than without water, and it's incredibly easy to get dehydrated while in treatment. LOTS of water, every day is crucial.

Let us know how things progress for you both. They will progress too, even though some days won't seem like it.

Good luck
Wayne