Meals for cancer patients

johnswife

My father in law came by yesterday and dropped the bombshell that he going into hospital 4/2/08 to have his pancreas removed because he has cancer.
He had kept this secret for months while he has been going for tests so my husband is a bit shell shocked. ( he has three brothers but they are useless and selfish and never make the effort to visit their dad who was widowed last March).
He has been coming to us for his tea since he was widowed, everday for about 6 months but now 4 days a week.

After he was gone my husband was on the internet and he doesn't think the outlook is very good for his dad and I started researching the desease.
Diet is very important and he must eat food very low in fat but high in protein.
I will be looking for recipes because i want to make sure he is eating the correct foods and after the operation he will never eat the same again.
Small meals often instead of three meals a day.

Has anyone had any expereince of this situation?

Thank you.

HariboJunkie

I have no experience of this situation Johnswife and I'm sorry to hear your bad news.
Pasta based meals with plenty of lean meat sauce would be good. Also filling and nutritious especially if you use whole wheat pasta.
Meat and two veg type meals like steak and Baked potato and salad should also be ok.
Could you try contacting a hospital nutritionist for more advice?

johnswife

HariboJunkie wrote: »

I have no experience of this situation Johnswife and I'm sorry to hear your bad news.
Pasta based meals with plenty of lean meat sauce would be good. Also filling and nutritious especially if you use whole wheat pasta.
Meat and two veg type meals like steak and Baked potato and salad should also be ok.
Could you try contacting a hospital nutritionist for more advice?

Thanks, Yes now we know the situation my husband will be with him at every appointment etc and ask these sort of questions.
Apparently he will be given diet advice before and after the operation but at this point he has not told us much just what we have read.
My husband is going to sit and chat with him this weekend and find out what he can because we don't know if he realises how serious this is. It has a very low rate of survival.

lil_me

Firstly sorry to hear of this, not an easy situation to deal with. You are right, there is a lower chance of survival with pancreatic cancer than some others, but never give up hope. I know one person with it who has come through the other side, my friend's Mam, she went back to work last week.

I completely agree with Haribo, the ward should have a dietician who can advise on what he's best to eat.

This charity is fantastic and helped my friend a lot when her Mam was diagnosed, she handled/coped with it much worse than her Mam did http://www.pancreaticcancer.org.uk/ There is diet advice on there also.

Thinking of you all

JennyW_2

Is your FIL having a whipple procedure carried out? It's usually performed for cancers in the head of the pancreas but also used to treat cancers of the bile duct. My father had the whipple procedure as he had cancer of the bile duct. I was told that the digestive system would no longer handle a lot of sugar, fatty foods or dairy products.

My father died too. The operation was a success however the cancer had spread to the lymph nodes

Miss_Cinnabon

Hi i am sorry to here about your fil

my dad had pancreatic cancer and had his pancreas removed but sadly he did pass away the next year from it,as it had spread to his liver sadly, from the people who i have spoke to on other forums with family with this cancer not one has survived from this as there is a low survival rate from this cancer, fingers crossed your fil will be fine.

In regards to diet, think it is lowfat and macmillon(sp) nurses are fantastic getting advice, they were a great support to us.

My mum will be on later as she will be able to give some info about diet etc but above all dont worry too much as the best thing u can do is make the most of the time you have together as you dont know what might happen.

Susie

Angelina-M

My own personal view is that sometimes the good intentions are difficult to stick to.

When my daughter was having chemo, we found that most food stuff made her sick, even just the smell would make her heave. I used to get upset with her and beg her to try a few mouthfuls, but she just couldnt do it.

She used to eat cheese on homemade bread and homemade yoghurt and thats about it.

So what I'm saying is dont be angry with him if he cant face what you've cooked for him. I think this stage doesn't last long though, usually just during and a few days after chemo.

I wish him all the luck in the world x

pigpen

Bless you all.. this is a very sad bit of news for you.. and your FIL has already been very brave.. keeping a normal life with this hanging over him until he knew for certain.. no doubt so you didn't worry!! love him! He is obviously a very strong character.. hopefully this has been located in time and the prognosis will be good.

You've had some fabulous advice here.. I truly hope he gets through this.

Once again, I'd go for batch cooking and freeze in tiny portions.. so if he couldn't eat a proper amount or could only eat a few spoonfuls it wouldn't be too much to throw away. I'd probably go with beans and pulses.. lentils and barley and such like.. as well as pastas and keep meat to a minimum.. and stick with white meat rather than hard to digest red meats.

I hope all goes well

irishwexford

Seven years ago I had op for colon cancer followed by 30 weeks of chemo. I bought myself a juicer and used this every day and my monthly blood tests were always good. I don't know about other cancers though so would suggest you ask nurse for advice. I often felt too sick from chemo to look at food but always managed the juice. Best of luck.

johnswife

Hi, I have been out all day and just logged on.

Thank you all so much for your advice, I do appreciate it.

Sadly he told us that he was having symptoms 2 years ago but wouldn't even think about going to the doctor or leaving MIL as he was the sole carer. I wish he had told us then because we would have sorted out the care for MIL.

All we can do now is get to talk to the doctor/hospital and make sure FIL is having the best treatment and we can talk to the Mac nurses about the diet.

Thanks again.