Hi @lastround, I can sure empathize with what you’re going through! The lack of taste and the slipperiness of food in the mouth caused by the chemo is so unappealing! Never mind the nausea!
My dietician told me: ‘Calories over nutrition right now’ after I’d lost 40 pounds…putting me well under 100 pounds. That was grim. You lost 90 pounds! That’s significant and you sure need to put some calories back into your body. So anything you can get down that would be a win-win!

Chemo knocks down rapidly dividing cells such as cancer cells. Unfortunately our entire digestive system is coated with fast growing cells and so our guts and mouths can be impacted too. We often lose our taste buds and the ability to taste the foods, along with having everything we put in our mouth feel slimy or like cardboard. It’s awful!

A few things I was able to tolerate sometimes…that seemed to change daily: Swanson Canned white breast of chicken. I could nibble on that. For some reason I was able to ‘feel’ the salt or taste it? Anyway I could pick away at a few pieces of that on my plate, a triangle of bread, applesauce. But I could not even get tuna past my mouth!
Smoothies made with Lactose free ice cream went down ok. Pudding and yogurt worked sporadically. What I loathed was the ‘taste’ of the protein powders added to make everything healthier.
Other things were tiny bites of a toasty cheese sandwich. They had to be small so that I couldn’t actually feel the bit of cheese! I couldn’t handle the feel of cheese in my mouth. But occasionally I could eat a little cheese spread on crackers. Or my husband would put cottage cheese in a blender and make a little cup for me in the hospital so I could spread that on crackers to nibble. The tiny Ritz sandwich crackers with peanut butter or cheese went down ok.
Banana bread with a drop of maple syrup spread on top. Oatmeal with a couple drops of syrup. Not sure the mechanics behind maple syrup but a few drops of that negated the metallic taste of foods!
Whatever you can find to get down, do it! I lived 2 days on Rice Krispie treats! My dietitian said to ‘go for it’! She even brought some up from the cafeteria for me.

I’m so sorry your feet are feeling the neuropathy from the chemo. We can also get what’s called chemo feet. Small amounts of the chemo can seep from the capillaries and cause burning in our hands and feet. That will eventually fade. I used aloe cream on my feet and palms to help cool things down but only time will clear that. The neuropathy will also take some time. For most people it does fade completely. Hopefully it does for you too. Though some patients never quite get rid of all the pins and needles.

Are you finished with the chemo treatments for now? What’s the next step?

Thank you for sharing your very difficult story.