Any advice for eating with esophageal cancer during chemo?

Posted by coffeeislife @coffeeislife, Aug 8, 2023

Looking to see if anyone has any pointers for being able to tolerate food/increase desire to eat. My dad has lost a tremendous amount of weight, he can't tolerate protein shakes because of the acid reflux. The only explanation he gives for not eating is he just forgets to do it. He doesn't have a desire to eat despite knowing logically it is something he needs to do. Any tips or advice?

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Profile picture for coffeeislife @coffeeislife

It has been talked about, but the doctors say it isn't time for a feeding tube. They just keep telling him to eat whatever he can, and take a bite of something every 10 minutes.

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I could not eat even once a day let alone every 10 minutes.
One of my favorite inventions for monitoring weight is my talking scale. You can order one on Amazon for about $40. You step on the scale and it tells you your weight without having to look at anything. I have low vision so it really helps. After a couple of days, you can tell your docs how much you are losing per day. Can you ask your docs when they think the time for a feeding tube will come? If they don't have a reasonable answer, then you might want to look for a second opinion.

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Profile picture for Don Higgins @dsh33782

During my treatment for esophageal cancer, I lost all appitite for eating for months and lost 20 pounds. The solution was to have feeding tube installed and to take 6 ISOSOURCE canisters per day which provided the needed calories and protein. I'm now cancer free and my appitite is back full strength. Have the docs talked about getting a feeding tube?

Jump to this post

It has been talked about, but the doctors say it isn't time for a feeding tube. They just keep telling him to eat whatever he can, and take a bite of something every 10 minutes.

REPLY

During my treatment for esophageal cancer, I lost all appitite for eating for months and lost 20 pounds. The solution was to have feeding tube installed and to take 6 ISOSOURCE canisters per day which provided the needed calories and protein. I'm now cancer free and my appitite is back full strength. Have the docs talked about getting a feeding tube?

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