Wow. I am amazed at what you dad has gone through. Where the
Whipple is concerned there is no substitute for having it done by
someone who does a lot of them, which is probably not the case with
your Dad's doctor. Can you see if the VA will send him to a specialty
doctor or hospital? ------------------------- I somewhat understand
brittle diabetes and know it is the worst kind and very difficult to
control. I understand why he has to limit his fats and sugars, but
not why he has to limit his protein? I can tell you that when I was
trying to stuff calories down my boyfriend and he had no appetite the
month after surgery, I used Unflavored Whey Protein a lot... you can
get it at the health food stores...it is designed for body building to
put on weight. I put it in everything...waffles, pancakes (use sugar
free syrup or jam on them for the diabetes), omelettes (cook them with
I Can't Believe It's No Butter Spray..tastes great on veggies and eggs
but has no fat), fruit shakes, smoothies to add protein and calories to
his diet. If things taste salty to him, can you see if he does better
eating things that are supposed to taste salty or perhaps things that
are stronger flavored but tart, like strawberries or blackberries. My
boyfriend found he liked Chinese lo mein. which he hadn't really eaten
before. I make it with frozen stir fry vegetables, chicken and
shrimp, and then throw in cooked top ramen noodles and cook it all with
olive oil and stir fry sauce. Olive oil, Pam, or I Can't Believe
It's Not Butter Spray is better to cook with. You can get MCT oil from
the Pharmacy but they have to order it special usually. My boyfriend
does really well with Spaghetti (I make it with very lean ground beef,
drained and patted with paper towels to get most of the fat off). Get
the leanest ground beef you can buy (I buy 90% lean/or 93% lean if I
can get it) and make him a big hamburger on a bun with mustard and
ketchup and tomatoes if he likes that kind of stuff, and give it to him
with Baked Potato Chips or you can bake the frozen fries for him
instead of frying them. If he used to like cokes but cokes don't
taste good anymore, change him to something he didn't usually drink
(like Dr. Pepper or Rootbeer, so that his mind doesn't compare it to
what he thinks it should taste like. Maybe try homemade fruit
milkshakes, like strawberry shakes, with protein powder added. I know
he can't eat much sugar, but those coconut macaroons can be made with
Splenda instead and are just as good, and the measurments are the same
with Splenda as for sugar which makes it easy. In fact most anything
can be made with Splenda. You can't cook with NutraSweet because the
chemical composition changes when heated, but Splenda works great and
you can buy it in a bag that is granulated just like sugar for
cooking. The only thing I would caution you about since this is also
about putting some weight on him is try to get him to drink after the
meal, otherwise he won't be as hungry. They used to tell us not to
have Adrian drink water with his meal because it would kill his
appetite.
If you can use Excel, I used an Excel Sheet and tracked
every calorie and protein gram and fat that went in him. It was a
chore and he is a lousy patient, but I'm pretty persistent. Calorie
King is a great site to look up any foods, even fast food restaurants
to help you count calories and know where you are each day. You don't
have to join to use the search function, but they are very involved
with diabetes too, so should be lots of good info on there for you. ---
http://www.calorieking.com/ ---
Well,
you'll be sick of me by now and I'm going to bed. Hoping for help for
you with the new doctor....but I'd go with your gut feeling. If it
isn't working for him, then insist they try something else..or give you
another doctor. ---
Donna Crane --
dmcrane@cox.net