Whipple

Spouse had surgery on 1/16 and his Doctor is fantastic.  He was in ICU for one night, moved to surgical ward, up and walking and IV's removed by day 5 days post surgery - still has drainage tube and feeding tube just in case and we are hopeful home this weekend.  Minor complications but all has been worked out.  Wondering if anyone knows where I can find receipes to make food sound / taste interesting once again.  Thank you.

I'm very happy for your husband and you that he is doing so well. 

Everyone is different of course, but I think the main thing after a Whipple is just to get calories into him period.  After surgery, I simply did not feel hungry.  You could have offered me my most favorite food in the world and it would not have appealed to me.  My husband who is a very good cook tried everything with me, and I tried very hard to be interested in food, but it just didn't happen.  So, if your husband doesn't seem interested in food at first, try not to let it upset you.  Just cook whatever you enjoy and I bet it will be just fine with him.  (I had to forgo spicy foods at first.  Pepper in particular hurt my stomach.  I always loved spicy foods and get to enjoy them again now.)

You may want to ask the doctors about pancreatic enzymes if they have not spoken with you about them already.  These are often necessary to help digestion post Whipple.  For some reason, doctors are often slow to prescribe them. (They have no ill side affects.)  

Best wishes for continued good results. 

Thank you for the suggestions, I was leaning towards mushy foods so will revamp my thinking - basically I am trying to cook meals that will excite his taste buds as well as our 14 year old son, and also deal with his resulting diabetes.  I am so thankful that he had such a fantastic team of doctors and would recommend his surgeon hands down.  His after care has been fabulous and I don't think he / we would be were he / we are in his recovery at this point if it wasn't for her expertise and her positive approach to cancer from a patients perspective and the family as a whole.  

In my boyfriend's case, we had to get lots of protein down him, so I found a lot of use for the Vanilla flavored and Unflavored whey protein powder from the Health Food store.  They also have Chocolate Flavored.  I used the unflavored  in everything I could manage to sneak it in to. 

We had to go home with his incision open and retention sutures over it, because it had kept draining.  His incision looked like football lacing.I had to pack it twice every day for over a month until it healed totally closed.   We were told that he wouldn't start gaining weight until the wound had filled in and healed over, and they were right.  They said his body would prioritize where the protein/nourishment went, and it went first to build the tissue to close the incision and that couldn't happen without a lot of protein.  Once it got almost completely closed, he started gaining weight.

I'm giving you a couple of my recipes that added a lot of protein to breakfasts  that were usually  mostly carbs.  It is much easier to blend the whey powder if you put all the ingredients in a blender.

HIGH PROTEIN WAFFLE – makes 1 waffle

 Approximate Nutrition
Totals for waffle:

Protein – 30+ grams

Fat – 13 grams

Calories – 425

*I get the Whey
Powder from GNC

 1 cup pancake/waffle
mix (1 gram protein/ 1 fat gram/180
calories )

1 tsp cooking oil
(5 fat grams/40 calories)

1 egg (4.7 grams protein/3.7 grams fat/40 calories)

¼ cup water

1-1/2 scoops Unflavored
High Protein Whey Powder (1 scoop = 20
protein grams)

         (30 grams
protein/3 grams fat/165 calories)

Add the egg and oil to blender.

Mix in whey powder gradually alternately blending and added
powder in.

Add water and continue to blend.

Pour in waffle iron.   

 NOTE: I find this waffle browns quicker than regular
waffles, probably due to the whey powder, so watch that it doesn’t get burned
looking.  My very finicky eater thinks
they taste great.

If you use Splenda to replace the sugar, remember you are also cutting the calories.  Don't use Nutrasweet (aspartame) because the chemical content changes when you heat it.
 

HIGH PROTEIN FRENCH TOAST

 Approximate Nutriton
Totals :

Protein – 30+ grams

Fat – 11 grams

Calories
– 350 approx.

 1 large egg (4.7 grams protein/3.7 grams fat/40 calories)

1 scoop Vanilla flavored High Protein
Whey Powder (20 grams protein/2 grams fat/110 calories)

Just enough. milk to
make whey powder mix in better. (approx. 1 protein gram/2 fat grams/20
calories)

Cinnamon to taste

Sugar to taste   (0 protein/0 fat/15 calories per teaspoon)

2 slices bread (6
grams protein/3 grams fat/160 calories)

 
Fry in skillet using Butter Flavored Pam (0 protein/0 fat/0
calories)

  NOTE:  I try to used bread with as high a protein
count as possible, which is probably whole grain breads, but white bread tastes
better and you only lose a couple protein grams per slice.  This recipe is for two pieces of toast.  As with the waffles, it is easier to blend it
in a blender, but you can just mix it up by hand.

 If you put margarine
and/or syrup on the Waffle OR French Toast, you need to add the nutrition info
in from those things. 

    Approximate amounts for butter &
pancake syrup:

              ¼ cup of pancake syrup – 0 fat/0
protein/200 calories

              1 Tbsp. of margarine – 0
protein/5 fat grams/50 calories

 

Donna C. 

Thank you I think I will get the unflavored version as anything that is "funny" in flavor seems to stay on the plate - think they call that picky.  We too came home with the drain and feeding tube in place, but the staples were removed and the bandage covering the stiches.  Actually his looks a little like an upside down ? mark.  He has good days and bad, but coming otu of the hospital on the 11th day the good and bad is to be expected.  We do find that walking after eating helps ease any stomach pain or gas pains, so when it rains [as it is now] we just pace the halls as we did when our son was little -- cabin fever seems to be the worse as he bores easily and is anxious to get back to work, but that won't be till March.  So all in all we are doing better than I had anticipated --

Getting my full sense of taste back took some time.  I had my pancreas, gall bladder, spleen and part of my stomach removed in April of 06.  the meds I took messed with my taste buds.  Something that I ate one day, did not taste good the next day.  I statrted thinking about what I wanted to eat a few hours before meal time and would work my taste buds up to that.  It is a tough battle, but I am standing above ground one year after I was diagnosed.  I am eating everything that i used to eat before the surgery.

Keeping a positive attitude is truly one of the keys to getting through this.