Speaking of j-tubes, I’m looking for some advice or suggestions. My husband is 8-½ months post esophagectomy surgery and he still has daily bouts of nausea and/or vomiting (at this point, the “vomiting” is mostly refluxed bile). Constant nausea prevents him from eating an adequate amount of “real” food and so he is still on j-tube enteral feeding.

The worst aspect of this, is that the formula itself seems to cause nausea, particularly if he has more than one container in a row. We currently use KateFarms (we started off with Osmolite after surgery but switched brands in case the Osmolite was causing the nausea, which is obviously not the case as we have the same scenario with KateFarms). I give him one container in the morning, one in the afternoon and one in the evening in an effort to stretch it out. In addition, in order to give him enough calories, we try to get either two glasses of Boost, or something to eat. If he is on the formula overnight, it is worse; he will wake six to eight times overnight to vomit. This is no way to live.

He takes Ondansetron and Prochlorperazine to combat the nausea—they don’t do the trick. He has had several visits with an acupuncturist to combat the nausea—but he still gets nauseous. I’ve also gotten him acupressure bracelets and purchased peppermint oil spray to soak in a cotton ball—none of these things work. We also have an appointment for a hypnotherapist. I’ve tried slightly reducing the milliliters per hour feed rate of the formula—but that doesn’t seem to have made any difference. Perhaps it should be reduced further.

Vomiting or nausea frequently stops him from completing a container of formula or finishing food after one or two bites and the resulting lack of calories has created a nutritional anemic condition…with his red blood cell and hemoglobin counts now being below normal—as a result, he has shortness of breath, is weak, cold, tired and fatigued all the time. In all, he’s lost between 65 and 70-lbs., since the surgery.

Surely my husband is not the only person who’s been up against these problems after an esophagectomy surgery. I’m looking for advice or suggestions, hopefully from someone who’s successfully dealt with it and I will be eternally grateful for whatever information you are willing to share.