20 weeks Post Treatment What to Eat?

My dear husband went thru chemo and radiation and finished about 20 months ago. His pharyngeal cancer was gone. But he could not eat most foods, very difficult to swallow. It never got any better. Now, as of a month ago we have found out he has esophageal cancer. He’s been told he’ll be gone from us within six months. I believe it will be much less than that. This diagnosis came out of nowhere and we are all in shock…

His journey was totally awful after his third week of radiation. He is 78 years old and chose not to fight it this time. He is now getting himself ready to leave us. I am so sad to report this. We didn’t t expect this ending at all.

Keep the faith dear people.

So sorry to hear this, sending hugs and prayers, comfortable is what’s needed, my husband was on dialysis, and he just couldn’t handle it anymore, he was 69, yea we had to just make sure he was comfortable no matter what beingsicksucks

Thank you for your thoughts. It sure does suck! And watching our loved one suffer is heartbreaking ❤️‍🩹. I wish you well as I continue to wonder what I’ll do without him. 🧡

John,
Sorry to read about your health problems.
My wife had a radical neck dissection and adjunct radiation for stage 4 tonsil cancer in 1997.
Surgery, radiation and no saliva have changed her oral health and eating & swallowing and such.
Not bad for first 10 years but more challenging since but you adapt to the new normal. It is what it is.
Currently on chemo for pancreatic cancer and that’s even more challenging but it adds excitement.
Before current cancer she would blend most things, vegetables, into a soup.

ENT surgeon said the only ones who have long term side effects from surgery and radiation are the ones still alive - made us realize we have it pretty good.
Attitude is everything.

We have experimented with “THICK IT” thickener to help thin liquids (water) as it seems thicker liquids and yogurt go down easier.
We experiment with drinking Pedialyte and coconut water or mix them in place of plain water, hoping the electrolytes or whatever trick the nerves in the neck to let them pass with no coughing.
Maybe popsicle’s or ice in mouth to melt, milk, half n half, heavy whipping cream, Gatorade, carrot, tomato, apple, orange juice?
Maybe vegetable, chicken or beef broth / stock?
Everyday is an experiment to see what works or what helps.

Some may need periodic IV hydration therapy, it has really helped us with chemo treatments.
RN that did the HT via IV said it is so much easier to try to stay ahead of the issue rather than having to treat an ailment caused by the issue.

Wife has more difficulty eating
currently with chemo treatments.
Issue with both physically difficulty and volume of food she can eat.
Current experiment is Soylent nutrition drinks (~400c) in many flavors, which are very good.
We add vanilla MASS GAINER powder by Transparent Labs, which is very good but does add sweetness, and immersion blend to add ~ 375c & 25g protein.
Also use benecalorie by Nestle to add ~ 330c & 7g protein to whole milk yogurt (~200c).
Can add calorie/ protein supplements to almost anything that works for you.
Everyday is an experiment.
God bless and good luck.

Hi John,

I finished radiation and chemo in July of 2023. I can remember going to the super market a few months after my treatment ended and spending an hour there trying to find something I could possibly eat: baby food? Soup?

The good news is, it will get better. I had a lovely pepperoni pizza a couple of days ago and it was glorious. It was not my first pizza. Around January of '24 (so about 6 months post treatment) I could barely start to tolerate spicy food which brought me to tears because I love spicy. The truth is, I can eat just about anything now. It takes a bit longer and I always need a liquid nearby to help things along, but you will heal and you will be able to eat just about anything you want. Stay positive, do your exercises (I haven't been real good at that) and keep moving on.

Take care,

Chris

Thank you for that response Chris. That's very encouraging to here! And based on some other posts in this forum I have re-dedicated myself to doing the exercises daily going forward. A small price to pay to eventually bite into that pepperoni pizza 🙂

When I was at your stage in recovery I was reaching out on Twitter to all of the celebrities who went through what we did to see if they could eat normal food again. At that time, I didn't know about this forum. None of them ever responded.

Truth be told, I just found this Support group because I recently came to the realization that the treatment we went through is going to be with us for the rest of our lives. I am now dealing with thyroid issues and one or two other possible problems. Overall, I felt like I was getting back to "normal" but I don't think that's a reality for us. The radiation we went through will be with us forever. I think it's going to be very important to get back on board with those exercises that were absolute torture during the treatment. That and positive thinking, general exercise, stretching, yoga, meditation, etc.

I just bought a red light sauna and look forward to setting that up soon. Anyway, John, you will eat all the food you want to again and the good news is, the cancer is gone and it shouldn't come back because they blasted the heck out of it. Cheers!

I had 28 weeks of radiation treatment for cancer on my vocal cords. About three weeks in, I had great trouble tolerating solid food.

My wife started purring everything for me, chicken and vegetables, pot roast, etc. You name it, she pureed it. It became fun exercise.

This continued for several weeks after the treatments were done. I did start to eat more solid food, little by little, and before I knew it, things got back to normal.

Good luck and good healing.

Hello, I am just under 2 years for treatment of hypopharyngeal stage 4. I am all well pretty much but cough up phlegm after coffee or food. Its not a horrible cough, but just a gentle wet cough with phlegm. It doesn't seem to be getting worse nor better after 8 months. I hate googling stuff as it depresses me. Just checking if anyone else had this symptom post treatment long term and whatever comes of it. (my doctor just nods & doesn't seem worried but as the advocate, I would like to know.) Thank you.

I am 12 weeks out of treatment and still have the phlegm issue.
However it has improved greatly. So I think it will for you just taking longer.
Did your phlegm become hard at any point?
Good luck and know it will get better.