Concerns with new diet for bowel cancer with bowel stent

Hi, 

My mother has been diagnosed with bowel cancer, and has had a bowel stent fitted, due to the colon cancer diagnosis she was told to stick to a low fibre diet to both help prevent blockage and also to prevent the stent from being affected 

All the hospital staff have been so good with everything, however I feel the only issue we are constantly having trouble with is, is when it comes to knowing what foods to eat, it seems like no one is really able to help us with this and we are worried especially when it comes to knowing if she is getting enough vitamins etc in the diet, most of what she can eat is all white and not allowed any wholegrains, fruit and veg is very limited and she is vegetarian other than fish 

A lot of the sites I've looked up are not applicable to her as they say she can eat quorn or soya but she's been given a piece of paper saying not to eat that 

Whilst we have been given contact numbers etc no one we have asked has really been able to answer our question and we don't seem to be any the wiser even from the people that inserted the stent, 

Any help would be so greatly appreciated, 

Thanks so much in advance

  • Hello and thanks for posting

    I'm sorry to read about your mum's situation. This must be a difficult time for you both.

    Your mum may benefit from being referred to a community dietician (via GP), or a hospital dietician (via the hospital team) as their area of expertise is in providing dietary and nutritional advice.

    In the meantime, there is some information on the NHS website on following a low fibre diet that you may find useful.

    The World Cancer Research Fund have a cancer-and-nutrition-helpline which is staffed by dieticians who may be able to offer further support

    I hope that this is of some help. Give us a ring if you would like to talk anything over. The number to call is Freephone 0808 800 4040 and the lines are open from 9am till 5pm Monday to Friday.

    Kind regards,

    Celene

  • Thankyou so much, you've been incredibly helpful 

    How do we go about getting a hospital dietician, as nobody has mentioned that to us, we do have a number to call for her dedicated nurse team, they have given us information on diet etc but we've found it a little vague in regards to aspects of it like how to get enough vitamins etc so do we just ask them then and request a dietician? 

    The two numbers you have given me, in regards to cancer and nutrition helpline and freephone etc are we able to just ring for general questions, or do we need to go thru hospital to call 

    Thankyou again so much 

  • Hi Kaon and thank you for your further post.

     

    You can ask either your mum’s dedicated nurse team or her GP to refer her to the hospital dietician.

    You can also call the phone numbers on the websites my colleague gave you. You don’t need a referral to call them for advice.

    It might help to talk things through with one of our nurses on the helpline. You can call for free on 0808 800 4040, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

    Kind regards

    Tina

  • Thankyou so much for all your help