no desire to eat

My wife was diagnosed with head of neck PC (adenocarcinomama) end of April this year..

Her Onc put her through 26 xeloda(5fu is released). Went to Hopkins two weeks after her last treatment and surgeon was unimpressed with progress. The mass involves structures and he won't attempt a surgery before she does casesh

Other problem is since chemo she refuses solid food and is living off Boost+ for the last three weeks.

She says everythng tastes bad, I have tried smoothies (too much volume) hard boiled egg salad, and on and. And she drinks water constantly whch makes me nuts because she needs calories.

Now she's down to 111 lbs, 24 lost total.

Any suggestions to get her to eat are encouraged.

Tim,

I understand your concern.  I also had head and neck cancer (squamous cell carcinoma), and the resulting radiation closed my throat completely.  I also had my sense of smell and taste altered radically, and after some other problems ended up on a feeding tube.  I lost 35#, more than I had to lose.

The one thing I could tolerate most of the time was ginger ale.  You are right that anything with calories is good, although she does need a good supply of water too.  I could not even stand the taste of our wonderful spring water.  See if you can get her to drink milk, or flavored milk, which has calories and protein.

My advice is to buy one of everything you can think of to try.  Commercial yogurt drinks are less dense than smoothies and easier to drink.  Ice cream goes down easily and has a good mouth feel;  see if there is a flavor she can tolerate. 

Colder is often better.  Try popsicles and anything frozen.  And jell-o?  From what I've read, loss of taste due to chemo doesn't last as long as from radiation (that can be permanent; mine comes and goes after 17 months), so maybe this will go with time.  I've also read that sweet, and sometimes sour, tastes are usually more tolerable than bitter ones, so that might help.

Now that most things either taste right, or don't taste at all, I've been able to regain about 12#.  I hope your wife has similar good fortune soon.

Susan

Hi Tim,

Sorry your wife is having problems, I hope she will soon feel better.

I had RCC and was on Sutent for two and a half years and I also had a dislike for food...most everything tasted too salty for me.

On my really bad days, I could drink cold Ensure and my husband would fix me some rice, cooked in chicken broth.  No salt.  I also ate ice cream.  Scrambled eggs and unbuttered toast.  Just simple things.  You might try diluting some grape juice and see if she can drink that.

I understand how worried you are about your wife; I remember how worried and upset my husband was when I would tell him I did not want to eat!

I pray this will soon be just a bad memory for you and your wife!

Try to keep a positive attitude, have hope and faith for better days ahead.

Prayers and blessings for your wife and yourself,

B