jaw cancer patient, how can i use nutritional help?

4 years ago my mum had surgery and radiotherapy for jaw cancer, a year ago it came back and meant more surgery leading to an inability to eat/drink and swallow her own saliva. for the past year she has suffered intolerably with infections to the lung, and a lack of normal life. a couple of months ago, lung cancer was diagnosed - still leading from the original tumour. this has been surgically removed. she is now in severe pain in her spine and we await the mRI scan with fear and tripidation. i'm pretty sure it will come back with a spinal tumor. all this points to the fact that the original jaw cancer was not caught in time (due to a lack of insight by her dentist and doctor), and has slowly spread (as it is not a virilant cancer) to other areas of her body. reading other stories, i can't help but feel that with a non-virilant cancer, nutritional help must be of utmost importance. other cancer infected friends/colleagues feel the same. however, i am yet to find anyone who has the problem of having to feed through a tummy tube (RIG or PEG), rather than orally, which is so limiting in what you can take in. Does anyone have any advice on how nutritionally, with the limitations of a tummy tube, we can try adn help slow down/stop this cancer spreading? i totally believe that nutrition is of utmost importance, but her doctors/nutritionists seem to only be concentrating on her having the correct number of calories to make sure she maintains body weight. this is like been kept on a life support system. we need more than this. her life is so awful. please can anyone help? thank you.

I have had head & neck cancer for the past four years. I had a feeding tube for 15mo and when it was removed I was only able to drink liquids with not much nutrutional value. My cancer has returned for the third time and I had chemo which didn't work so I flew back to UCLA for surgery this past April. They were not able to remove all the cancer so I came back home and started a new type of chemo in hopes this would save my life. I was put back on a feeding tube and trachea tube. I invested in a Vita Mix machine and it has changed my life. I'm able to blend all natural fruits and veggies and pour them down my tube. I even put nuts, cereal, meat, juices, omega oil, whey protein and blend it all up. The machine is amazing and it will get your mom the nutrition she so desperately needs. Try to buy only organic foods for her and if her immune system is down, you should buy frozen as fresh can carry a lot of bacteria & germs. I hope this helps you and pray that your mom feels much better soon. You can order the Vita Mix Machine online. Cost for a new one is around $500 but well worth it. Take care. Cynthia

thank you, i will look into it and ask her dietician to as well. best wishes to you.

sorry, meant to ask, has it changed your life in so muc has you have more energy? the cancer is going? etc?

 

On 8/5/2007 libbyr wrote:

sorry, meant to ask, has it changed your life in so muc has you have more energy? the cancer is going? etc?

Hello, It has changed my life because the cancer is in remission and I feel more healthy now than I ever have before my cancer. The doctors never tell you about what to do so you have to take matters in your own hands. If I knew about this 4yrs ago I don't think the cancer would have kept coming back. But now I know what I can do to make myself healthier. I only shop where I can buy organic foods and mine are mostly frozen. My immune system was severely compromised and I had to stay away from the fresh produce & veggies. I also buy rice milk instead of regular milk. And have your mom stay away from sugar. Cancer feeds off of sugar and hates greens. So have your mom try to have as much green veggies as possible. My trachea tube was removed but I don't have much of a voice and still have my feeding tube. But that's ok because it gives me the opportunity to eat as healthy as possible. I hope this helps you with your mom and just remember that it does get better. You must never loose hope and never give up!! God Bless. Cynthia

 

 

On 8/5/2007 Brittstar wrote:

 

On 8/5/2007 libbyr wrote:

sorry, meant to ask, has it changed your life in so muc has you have more energy? the cancer is going? etc?

Hello, It has changed my life because the cancer is in remission and I feel more healthy now than I ever have before my cancer. The doctors never tell you about what to do so you have to take matters in your own hands. If I knew about this 4yrs ago I don't think the cancer would have kept coming back. But now I know what I can do to make myself healthier. I only shop where I can buy organic foods and mine are mostly frozen. My immune system was severely compromised and I had to stay away from the fresh produce & veggies. I also buy rice milk instead of regular milk. And have your mom stay away from sugar. Cancer feeds off of sugar and hates greens. So have your mom try to have as much green veggies as possible. My trachea tube was removed but I don't have much of a voice and still have my feeding tube. But that's ok because it gives me the opportunity to eat as healthy as possible. I hope this helps you with your mom and just remember that it does get better. You must never loose hope and never give up!! God Bless. Cynthia

Hi Cynthia,

I hope all is well with you.  You sound like a very strong person and when I read your replies I was so happy to hear that their was someone out there that seems to know what is going on.  I have been in remission for three months from Head and Neck cancer and I feel like I was left to figure everything out on my own.  I am still on a feeding tube, but I am getting better with making myself eat.  I just don't know what the right food is to eat.  I have asked my doctor two times about what to eat so I can gain some weight back and get more energy.  I am living on ice cream every night, cereal in the morning and cans of Jevity during the day.  They told me to keep up the ice cream, but I am afraid because of the sugar.  I am trying to change my diet, but I don't know what to change it to.  I heard red meat wasn't good for cancer patients so I have almost totally given that up, but I am also trying to change what everyone in the house eats, not just myself.  It seems like the doctors aren't concerned with what goes on after treatment.  I am trying to get healthy enough to go back to work and I don't seem to be making any progress.  I have lost 35 pounds and have only gained two back since the end of treatment in February.  Any help that you or anyone else may be able to offer would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, Michelle

 

Dear Michelle,

I hope that you are staying away from the ice cream as the sugar is not good for you. My breakfast consist of frozen strawberries, pineapple, rice milk, light oj, whey protein, omega oil in liquid form, sugar free gelatin and grape nuts. I blend it in my Vita Mix Machine which you can purchase online. I strain it first and then put it in my feeding tube. You must take in water as much as you can if you can swallow. I'm not able to swallow and don't know when I will so for now everything is through my tube. For lunch I have 2 cans of Jevity 1 mixed with frozen veggies that you need to defrost first and omega oil and whey protein again. For dinner I blend 1-2 cans of Jevity 1 along with brown rice, or red or sweet potatoes, chicken and more frozen veggies. Get as much green as you can into your diet. And your smart to stay away from red meat. It's not good for cancer patients. Mix your fruit and veggies up to give you a variety of flavors & tastes. Oh and I also put in some nuts such as almonds or walnuts in the Vita Mix Machine. Please let me know your progress and if you feel better after changing your diet. I think you will see a big difference. And you might want to look into getting supplements to build up your immune system. I take Cats Claw and C-10. Good luck and I pray that you will feel better day by day. God Bless. Cynthia 

Dear Cynthia:

Thank you for all the information.  It sounds like now I can get on the right track.  What does the gelatin do?  I do drink a lot of water because almost everything else I try makes my mouth even drier than it already is.  I will keep in touch and let you know how this works.  If you come up with any other ideas, please pass them on.  I received more information from you in one message than I have from all of my doctors put together.  Take care and please let me know your progress as well.  I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers.  Michelle 

Hello,

You can also try this product call Original Limu. this product has nutrients and minerals. fucoidan/polyphenols and 77 other nutrients. you can go out to podmed.gov to research Fucoidan. I hope this helps.

 

On 8/22/2007 maralva7 wrote:

Hello,

You can also try this product call Original Limu. this product has nutrients and minerals. fucoidan/polyphenols and 77 other nutrients. you can go out to podmed.gov to research Fucoidan. I hope this helps.

Maralva7,

Thank you for the information... I will definitely look into that.  I'm always looking for new ideas.  Take care.