How to put on weight

[Rachel161080]

Hi all, I’ve never written on a forum before. My mom was recently diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer and is due to start chemo soon. Our problem is her weight, she has only ever been a small woman to start with weighing about 8 stone but now her weight has gone down to 5 stone 12. I’m worried she won’t be strong enough to tolerate her chemo. It has been recommended she have the folfirinox but we are seeing an oncologist tomorrow to confirm if they will give her that one. They say it gives the best chance of getting her to operation stage. I’m desperately trying to get her to eat something but she has no appetite, feels full, has a dry mouth and is sometimes sick. The hospital said they would get a dietician to get in touch and today she received a text message to say someone would call her on 20th October!!! We can’t wait that long. Does anyone have any advice on what she can eat to help her build herself up. She takes creon and I should mention she’s very fussy! She manages to drink 2 fortisip drinks a day and maybe a piece of fruit or toast. The last 2 days she has managed a sausage and a bit of veg. Thank you in advance for any advice and good luck to everyone here. Reading your stories is amazing. You are all so strong xxx

[LisaC]

Hello Rachel 

it’s difficult when someone is struggling to eat so much, I believe they have good dietary advice available on the website, fortisip drinks will give extra calories but not enough to sustain yourself. If she’s able to tolerate some soup you can provide fortification with butter or cream to add calories, add full fat milk or ice cream to milkshakes, porridge with full fat milk. 
little and often meals I would suggest, hope that helps 

[Rachel161080]

Hi Lisa, thank you very much for your helpful advice. Yes she can tolerate soups so I will def add more calories to them with the butter /cream x

[Dr. Evil]

I came home yesterday from the deli with some freshly made fishsoup for my mother. Pretty much the best restaurant in town for that dish so it`s all the way up there. The first thing she said when i met her was "if it`s food you`re hauling, i probably don`t want it" Well long story short, she consumed almost half the bowl and seemed to be very thankful afterwards. I think she mentioned she isn`t supposed to eat anything hot so i she did wait for the soup to become luke warm. Fuzzy eater eh, i say give her some ripe plain avocoado that`s food for kings. I just gave my mum four teaspoons. In addition to the Creon enzyme pills it helps lube her insides also i should think. If she says no just overrule her, lol. They say not to pressure patients into eating but what option ars there if they can`t sustain their own bodyweight? I wish you luck.

[Rachel161080]

Thank you for your reply, her eating has decreased even more since I lasted posted so I shall definitely try the avocado tomorrow whether she likes it or not haha

[Lori]

On 9/4/2021 at 9:49 PM, Rachel161080 said:

Thank you for your reply, her eating has decreased even more since I lasted posted so I shall definitely try the avocado tomorrow whether she likes it or not haha

I just finished round 3 of folirinox, and I'm having some trouble eating. Now I'm not as small as your Mom... but what I'm trying to do is really focus on getting to the operation fighting fit. We are very lucky that an operation is an option, so we need to do all we can to get there.

 

We also get to split the chemo - 6 rounds then 6 rounds. I was also told last 6 rounds would be at 80% strength, anyone else heard that?

 

Best of luck with your Mom.

 

Lori

[LisaC]

19 hours ago, Lori said:

I just finished round 3 of folirinox, and I'm having some trouble eating. Now I'm not as small as your Mom... but what I'm trying to do is really focus on getting to the operation fighting fit. We are very lucky that an operation is an option, so we need to do all we can to get there.

 

We also get to split the chemo - 6 rounds then 6 rounds. I was also told last 6 rounds would be at 80% strength, anyone else heard that?

 

Best of luck with your Mom.

 

Lori

Yes they can reduce the strength if it’s too much for people, the oncologist was going to start Lewis on 80% strength.

[Rachel161080]

Thank you Lori and Lisa. Mom has been told she is no where near well enough for folfirinox so we are going back to the oncologist tomorrow to be told about gemcitabine/abraxane chemo and to sign some papers. She’s still struggling massively to eat and also can I ask about pain. She is on morphine but has been crying today in excruciating pain. I wanted to take her to a and e but she didn’t want to miss her appointment tomorrow. Eventually it eased a little. I’ve always been under the impression that there is no need for people with cancer to be in pain like that. She currently takes 30mg zomorph in the morning and the same on the evening and then has liquid morphine to top up during the day which she is having more so now because the pain is getting worse. Xxx

[LisaC]

She may be having some neuropathic pain, there is a big bundle of nerves around the pancreas and liver area and it gave Lewis like a stabbing sharp pain when he moved. 

They started him on some pregablin which helped, and increased his zomorph and oramorph doses. 

[Rachel161080]

Thank you for the advice Lisa I will ask about the pregablin xxx