recooperating

My dad is about 7 months into a total gastrectomy.Although his actually doing pretty well considering he has no stomach his seems to still get rather sickly,plus he says he gets a burning sensation in tummy or samo where in there.He probably does not eat the way he should I am sure is one thing.Of course he has a lost a lot of weight and muscle,and had even lost 11 more pounds the last time he had a doc appnt.(about 2 weeks ago)my dad is closing in on 69 by the way.

Any body have any kind of advice or suggestions??

 

 

On 5/7/2009 oldest son wrote:

My dad is about 7 months into a total gastrectomy.Although his actually doing pretty well considering he has no stomach his seems to still get rather sickly,plus he says he gets a burning sensation in tummy or samo where in there.He probably does not eat the way he should I am sure is one thing.Of course he has a lost a lot of weight and muscle,and had even lost 11 more pounds the last time he had a doc appnt.(about 2 weeks ago)my dad is closing in on 69 by the way.

Any body have any kind of advice or suggestions??

 

My mom just had this about a month ago. She is 80! She should be starting chemo soon but need to keep her weight up first.She has trouble finding foods she likes and can keep down,did your Dad have that? Mom is losing weight since leaving the hospital. I know they should limit their salt and sugar intake. And should eat as much fatty foods as possible.
I wish someone could tell us what is the easiest way for her to get the nutrition she needs. She used to LOVE to eat . This is so very hard.Luckily her and my dad have been very active and are in great shape.

 Try and have your Dad up and moving as much as he can stand,try to increase that slowly and maybe his appetite will improve as well!

 

On 5/10/2009 MarieRdance wrote:

 

On 5/7/2009 oldest son wrote:

My dad is about 7 months into a total gastrectomy.Although his actually doing pretty well considering he has no stomach his seems to still get rather sickly,plus he says he gets a burning sensation in tummy or samo where in there.He probably does not eat the way he should I am sure is one thing.Of course he has a lost a lot of weight and muscle,and had even lost 11 more pounds the last time he had a doc appnt.(about 2 weeks ago)my dad is closing in on 69 by the way.

Any body have any kind of advice or suggestions??

 

My mom just had this about a month ago. She is 80! She should be starting chemo soon but need to keep her weight up first.She has trouble finding foods she likes and can keep down,did your Dad have that? Mom is losing weight since leaving the hospital. I know they should limit their salt and sugar intake. And should eat as much fatty foods as possible.
I wish someone could tell us what is the easiest way for her to get the nutrition she needs. She used to LOVE to eat . This is so very hard.Luckily her and my dad have been very active and are in great shape.

 Try and have your Dad up and moving as much as he can stand,try to increase that slowly and maybe his appetite will improve as well!

 

Yes my dad had a lot of trouble eating when he was first out of surgery.However he did have all of his chemo and radiation before the surgery and none after the fact,so he still had a lot of bad taste from that.I don't know if there is any solution or not, we just tried to get dad to drink as much of the ensure as he could(he referred to it as slop)he didn't like it but did what he could.Did they not leave a g tube in your mom?That would probably have been the best thing so you could shoot it straight in.My dad had one for awhile and actually should have left it in a while longer but talked the doctors in to removing it.Which it did bother him alot and was uncomfortable.But he actually started maintaining a little weight around that time which kind of helped.It really is hard on the older generation,they have eaten the same way for so long it's hard to change their habits.(mine to for that matter)

 My dad does stay up a lot longer now.He has a wood shack it the backas we call it)and he does some wood working. The shack is always a blessing for moral believe me.We know his biggest problem is his eating habits where as he needs to eat all day.He sometimes is still sickly in am and doesn't eat ,so then when he gats hungry later he eats to much and the not much the rest of the day.(not good)He sure has lost alot of weight also-probably close to 125 I would say.I don't know how we're going to get him maintaing any kind of weight.It sure does have to be hard on the body with out a stomach,actually pretty amazing you can live without it. 

 

 

On 5/7/2009 oldest son wrote:

My dad is about 7 months into a total gastrectomy.Although his actually doing pretty well considering he has no stomach his seems to still get rather sickly,plus he says he gets a burning sensation in tummy or samo where in there.He probably does not eat the way he should I am sure is one thing.Of course he has a lost a lot of weight and muscle,and had even lost 11 more pounds the last time he had a doc appnt.(about 2 weeks ago)my dad is closing in on 69 by the way.

Any body have any kind of advice or suggestions??

 

My husband also had a total gastrectomy and had part of his esophagus removed.  He was fortunate in not requiring anything further beyond  surgery (no chemo or radiation).  It will be a year in June and he is finally holding his weight.  We despaired for a long time as the pounds kept falling but it eventually levels off.  We tried the Ensure (or Endure as my husband calls it) products but they are too full of sugar and ran right through him.  We ate a lot of high-fat food, bacon and things cooked in bacon fat.  Burritos with avacado, green onions, cheese, tomatoes and hot sauce have now become a staple in his diet.  Doctor said for the short term, cholesterol was the lesser of evils.  Hubby still has lots of burning and goes through antacids like candy but it helps.  His energy level is still low and maybe that's how he'll always be but you need to know that there is light at the end of the tunnel.  Some people take energy drinks and get muscle building powders from the health food stores but Dale wouldn't touch them.  Summer will help if you can get the patient outside in the fresh air.  And keep reminding them of how they were a month ago, three months ago, etc...it really opened up his eyes to the fact that he was improving, even if it was slowly.  Good Luck!