Hi Sue !

I've just finished a large chicken and lamb shawarma kebab with a can of cola (additional calories any way I can!) for dinner and went to Pizza Express with a friend for lunch yesterday and had a Romana American Hot, chocolate brownie with ice cream and bottle of cola - to give you an idea of post gastrectomy eating.

Took a while to get there eating and pushed myself on advice of my surgeon, to stretch things through eating and increase capacity ! 

Life wise, the biggest change is remembering to eat ! I never get hungry, so with work and back to back meetings I often get to lunch, feel faint and then realise why ... I forgot to eat breakfast after my morning coffee !

I have to remember to eat slowly too and not rush else forcing too much stuff into the smaller capacity at the same pace pre op doesn't work and feels uncomfortable !

My awesome Wife is very good at remembering and knowing this and is attuned to the pace I should eat at, and often reminds me over dinner to slow down as I excitedly tuck in !

Apart from that and being more slimline than pre op, I am grateful to be out the other side of the craziest year of mine and my family's life and making the most of every day as this taught me how much I took things for granted !

Not sure if that's much help though !? Anything else, just ask and one of this lovely and supportive bunch will come back and help you out. Hilts and Milly were aweosme encouragers to me when I felt like giving in, limping over the line on my knees through post op chemo - which is by far the hardest thing I have ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, evvvvvvver done in my whole entire life ! It made the pre op stuff and the op itself seem like a cake walk.

Just don't overthink things and put too much pressure on yourself. My Wife had no prior knowledge or experience for my new diet, capacity to eat etc and we both learnt on the fly and worked together to optimise our journey out the woods !

Hey Andi

The Epsom salts did make me smile, as my Grandad used to , not bathe in them, but drink them for 'blockages' swore by them- but he was a Wiley old boy.LOL

SueCC- I am no nurse, I left over 30 years (eke) ago. things have changed beyond all recognition! When we got husbands diagnosis, I was all over the place, but I was remembering oesophagectomy circa 1988- nothing like the reality at all. Big girl knickers might be useful to keep the cold,out, but you will get through this fine. For me, the thoughts were far worse than the reality, My guy needed no 'looking after' at all when he came home, no dressings, no pain ( some occasionally) and his jej feeding tube he dealt with himself. All I did was mush his food, but only for about 2 weeks. It the word cancer, that freaks everyone out, but once treatment has started, you'll feel better about it. In my experience us watchers are worse, in terms of worrying, than the patient!
keep that faith fellow travellers

Hilts

Ooooo Redski

So very good to hear that - I still can't seem to get much food in and have lost bucket loads of weight - and still losing. They are threatening to put another line in but as you say - it's so difficult when you just don't feel hungry!!  I am at my wits end to get more food in!!  Sometimes even that last teaspoon of food just won't go down - grrrrrr.  But it's sort of comforting to hear you're not alone. My lovely friends and family mean well with the 'just another few spoons' - like encouraging a baby to eat - but I just can't.  Again - thank you all

Trying to keep the faith 

Andi xx

Be patient Andi and don't beat yourself up about it.

I don't get hungry either, and my pathway out the other side was fraught with hiccups, side swipes and dodgems !

Just keep walking forwards and push yourself when you can but go at your own pace and don't get down ... you've so much to be thankful for and like my surgeon said to me when I started worrying about it coming back and like I had a Sword of Damocles over my head ... he told me rightly, pointing out that you don't go through all that to sit worried and preoccupied with it the other side, you have to move forwards, look ahead and try to get on with enjoying the new life we've been given !

I lost a lot too. I was a 100kg Body Builder pre op and dropped to 75kg-ish post op, got back up to 80kg-ish and plateau'd there for ages and more recently am up to 85kgs. 

At my last check up at the RM with my surgeon last Wednesday, he said I could put back on the last of the muscle mass I've lost and am missing by starting to workout out again, lifting weights and taking protein powder - and I will at some point (I'm just enjoying being lazy right now!)

Are you maximising calories where you can Andi to stabilise your weight ? My surgeon has got me on Gold Top milk (Jersey cows, sold in ASDA!) and Hagen Daas ice cream etc. look at everything you eat and drink and try to maximise your calorie instake with it.

Coffee / Tea ? Use Gold Top or full fat (blue) milk with it. Add some maple syrup or sugar to it and sweeten it ! I try and look at what I eat and try to maximise the calories from the volume of what I'm eating if that makes sense / helps.

Hi Redski

Thank you for that - I know I'm so lucky to have had such superb treatment - but my second major op 4 weeks ago has knocked the stuffing out of me - but I must pull myself together. Yes - I have everything full fat - eat chocolate- milky drinks - anything - but I've gone from 80kg (overweight!!) to 54 - so thin. 
 

Anyway - thank you again - must stop whingeing and just get on with it

Andi xx

It's bound to knock the stuffing out of you ... don't underestimate just how much our bodies have been through Andi but the path to success is never a straight line and in time you'll be back to your best. Your body is healing and a watched pot never boils, so try not to focus on where you're at and just get back to loving yourself, smiling at life, seeing friends, seeing family and you'll be further out the other side before you realise it ! You're a trooper and an inspiration to so many, keep going !

Thank you again - will take your words on board Redski xx

please can somebody help.

my step dad got his pet scan results today and the cancer has spread so they will not operate to remove tumour. they will only

offer chemo and have given him 1-2 years.

what can we do? if anything? any idea of next steps? chemo? have no idea what to ask or where to start. thank you. 

So very sorry to read that, I'm sorry I can't offer any help as I'm very new to this cancer but I'm sure the other people with more knowledge than me will be along soon.

Just wondering if they will offer him palliative chemo. X