Father has stage 4 lung cancer

diagnosed 6 weeks ago as had 1 chemo treatment and is now in ICU with pneumonia. Very weak from not eating in about a week. His chances are not good. Any suggestions on how to get him to eat. He barely even drinks anything. Thanks

have you tried the ensure drinks

We're in Month 7 with my father-in-law... stage 4 lung cancer [right lung is closed down], and some lymph activity. We go through waves of what he'll eat [he had radiation that affected his throat; we're past that, and have just finished chemo].

Right now, yogurt and Boost/Ensure are about all he eats. I'm guesstimating about 600 calories a day get into him [half a yogurt here, a couple sips of juice there]. He's also diabetic, so regulating sugar is hard...

I guess my advice is, whatever works, works.  If he wants ice cream in the morning, great! Soft-scrambled eggs, lots of caloric creamy soups, protein smoothies with ice cream and fruit. Go for full-fat versions of everything. I usually add protein powder and/or fiber powder, as well.

Good luck! Keep in touch if you need someone to talk to-- we're making our way through this blindly: it helps to have a hand to hold!

~terry 

My heart & prayers are with you during this troubling time.  It's so hard seeing a loved one go through this.  I lost my husband of 43 years in August 2010 from tongue cancer (primary) which spread everywere including the lungs.  He was so stubborn that he wouldn't get a feeding tube in his stomach until 10 days prior to death.  His Oncologist said up to that point that if only drinking Boost or Ensure, he had to drink six per day to sustain life.  At this point he had dropped from 240 lbs. to 120 lbs.  He couldn't have radiation so they did 3 treatments of Chemotherapy that almost killed him.  It became so painful & with all the swelling in the mouth & throat that he couldn't hardly even get two per day down.  The cancer ultimately took him away. 

Be strong & know that we also feel your pain & sorrow.  My wish is that your father surprises everyone and pulls through this.  We are here for the both of you.

Broken 

My mom recently died and up to about 6 days before she died she only wanted chocolate pudding. We gave her whatever she wanted knowing she was going to die. If you have reason to believe he will make it try ensure or something with more vitamins but still soft. It is hard to sit there and watch someone be as stubborn as our parents but I figured whatever made her comfortable I would do it. She was diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer and while in the hospital (after we knew she was going to die) if she wanted a cigarette I would have given it to her.. anything to make her last days more comfortable. Cherish every day you have with your father and my prayers are with you and your family during this time.

Thank you my dad passed Dec 5th my heart goes out to anyone who has to go through this. Thank you for your prayers.