Food issues

OK, so this has NOT get any better.

Hubby had an omelette tonight and I had to walk about the house for about an hour wearing a dust mask (you know the 1/2 round kind you get from the hardware store), and I had to smear vanilla essence on the inside to get rid of more of the smell, and every 10 mins or so go out on the front or back deck for a breast of fresh air (in the below zero degree temps).

I just find them SO AWFUL, the look, smell etc and the smell of them cookign is SO AWFUL.

I thought I would be ok, as long as I was in the shower while hubby cooked them, so i wouldn't see or smell them, but BOY was I WRONG...

And I am now halfway through my chemo (Had cycle 3 on Monday), and I have had this new disgust to eggs since day 1 of cycle 1.

I have been trying to get an appointment to see a dietician, because my my lack of appetite and lack of interest in food. But I have not had much luck.

I asked at my chemo clinic and the chemo nurse I was talking to told me that the dieticians at the hospital (where I have my chemo) are so swamped that they can only see inpatients, and as I am not an inpatient (not even when having chemo, do they class you as an inpatient) I can't see them. They suggested I talk to the community nurses (who look after me at home - if I need injections or anything after chemo), and I called them and asked and they called me back a couple of days later to tell me, that yes there is a community dietician but there is a 3 month waiting list to see them, not much help seeing as I only have 4 more chemo cycles and will be finished chemo in 3 more months (my last one should be around 16th July). So I was thinking great, so no help with this then (I am on a Disability pensin due to my pre-existing medical conditions, and can't afford to see a private dietician). So yesterday I thought I would try the other hospital (where I see my oncologist) and spoke to them and they said they also only see inpaitents, but they class chemotherapy patients as inpatients while they are having chemotherapy (i.e. during the infusion in the chemo clinic), but as I don't normally have my chemo there, the only way I can see them is to,swtich and have one (or more) of my chemo cycles at the other hospital, but while talking to the dietician, she said about the community one and I told her that they ahev a 3 month waiting list, and she said that is only for those with the lowest need (it is a triage type system, in that those that need it most are seen first), she said because I am on chemoand have no appetite and no interest in food and have lost 1-2kg's (not much and I could do with some weight loss :-), but was told this is NOT a good thing during chemo becasue you tend to lose mucle and such and not fat) that I am classed as mid to high ne ed andshould be able to get in sooner. The dietician was going to email the community dietician about seeing me,and I should hear from them soon. If I can't get in then they are going to think of other options, like me having one of my chemos at the other hospital so that I can see the dietician while I am there etc.

In the mean time I have been told to try to eat, and that anythign is better than nothing and to add things to my diet like High protein milk (this is normal full cream milk to which you add milk powder - 600ml milk & 3/4 cup milk powder (this and other recipes are in the Cancer Councils "Food and Cancer" booklet)), which I have made up and have added to my coffee etc, you can use this where ever you use normal milk, drinking it, on cereal, and i cooking etc (I don't think I will be drinking it straight but I will use it in other things etc).

So here is hoping I can see a Dietician soon,a nd get some help.

Hi all - most foods for me taste horrid at the moment - but i am enjoying scrambled eggs (sorry to mention the e word!!)  Most carbs are out except for rice cant get enough of risottos - love anything spicy becuase i can i actually taste it.  I just eat for the first 11 days for the sake of it to keep my energy levels up.  Funny how where all different.  

But i have found that my sense of smell has increased - especially the smell of stinky hair - i think i have hair envy :)

Debbbie

I can't get an appointment with the dietician for 3 months - what a crock.

I will be on my 2nd last or last cycle of chemo then, and it will be hardly worth it.

I will try the other hospital tomorrow (The hospital I have chemo at is so swamped they are only seeing in patients, the dietician I can see in 3 months is through the commmunity nurses), where I go to see my oncologist.

I don't eat a lot, so I am happy to eat anything that I can. Somethings taste awful (like most vegetable taste like they have metal shavings in them <YUCK>, and fruit taste metallic or acidic and burns my tongue).

I do take a multivitamin everyday so I know I am at least getting some nutrition.

BC is a bloody good excuse in my books <LOL>, and if you want or need the comfort of these or any foods, then I say GO FOR IT.

I don't really have any cravings and I am so lucky that I am still enjoying food at this stage.  Cycle one I had the metallic taste and the next two I have just had ulcerated and coated mouth.  None of it has stopped me eating though unfortunately.  I don't want to stop eating I would just like to cut down as I getting fatter and fatter mmmmmm

I am sure I would love KFC but it is an hours drive away so I am safe from that one.

Like you say though if you are not wanting to eat then something is better than nothing.  I think you were going to see a Nutrition, have you seen them and how did that go?

I do try to put things like meat, fish and chicken plus veg and fruit into what I am eating but sometimes I go off the rails.  I think I might be using BC as an excuse and unconscioiusly thinking I need the comfort from these foods. 

I have never been a foody till I started chemo or maybe just prior to?/

Good luck with your eating.

Mich xo

I do seem to also crave some foods, sometimes.

Things like - red meat, chicken, KFC popcorn chicken & potato & gravy.

Haha, yes -- don't worry about typos, we can work it out. That's the joy of social media, no-one cares about imperfect text/grammar/typos etc.

(what I did was just copy the text I could see, and then used select-all (which is ctrl-A on your keyboard) which selects everything you can't see as well as what you can, then 'delete'. Then paste the text you copied back in and you're done!)

Thank you so much for that Di.

Yeah I but & pasted it from Word to check the spelling because my brain was fuzzy.

I tried deleting & retyping first line again etc but it wouldn't delete the extra code.

 i think I will stick with directly typing here and you guys can try to work out what Iam saying if my brain is fuzzy <LOL>.

Hi Shaz -- I got rid of the stray code for you. :)  It happens sometimes when you cut-and-paste from Microsoft Word -- Word has all this crazy code behind what you see, that can copy over with your text (it's why most 'web people' you come across will say they'll do anything they can to avoid using Word :).

Best answer is to type up your post into Simple Text or Notepad or one of those 'text only' programs if you want to write your post in advance.  Otherwise, just type straight into the comment or blog post field, and then use the 'preview' button if you want.

Hope that helps :)

Di