Food Help for 78-year-old w/ Cancer, on Chemo--can't eat anything : (

[unrepentantcowboy]

Marijuana is the best anti-nausea drug I've seen.

But not all marijuana is alike. Get her some good quality sativa--not dirt weed or swag as the youngsters call it nowadays.

It will help.

[Hope@ZeroKelvin]

MJ is already available as Marinol, a class 3 drug.  Unfortunately, it usually requires 15 mg dosing three times daily for anit-nausea effect.  At that dose, folks get dysphoric and confused.

Personally, I am a big fan of ginger.

[OdysseusNTexas]

Filter,
   A lot of people feel out of their league in discussing medical options for a specific condition.  Hope has offered information that could be used in a discussion between patient and her doctors, and I think we need to honor that.  Letting someone know about their options is important, and letting patients have the vocabulary and the understanding of drugs and agents will allow them to understand their situations better and make more informed decisions.
   Peace?   Please! 

[Librarian]

i hesitate to even open this thread now. i was considering deleting the whole thing, since i can't figure out an effective way to edit out various things (and how can you ask for *any* kind of advice if you are afraid to even say how old someone is or what is wrong with them?)

in any case, to be clear, while i see no problem with any and all the types of advice given here (and we DO appreciate it!) for those of us who actually read what i asked, it was just for food help or other things we can do at home to *support* the larger treatment. and OF COURSE my friend talks openly with the patient, and they BOTH talk to the various doctors and other involved health care workers. unfortunately, for various reasons, not implying malpractice on anyone, what had been prescribed was not working. and sometimes even the doctors may not be aware of new forms of meds, or new meds, so it helps when the patient and their family member can ask about them.

further chemo is on hold anyway, because the patient is in too bad of shape from secondary issues: specifically the digestive tract yeast, and now gout in both feet, and a suspected ulcer and/or hernia, and of course the fact that no significant amount of food has been kept down for probably four weeks or more now. i will very clearly make no comment as to my thoughts on the predictability of this outcome.

the patient is now in hospital (as of Tuesday.) there was no other choice, care could not continue at home, for now, and being unable to keep oral meds down there was no way to address these problems. the patient is not very pleased to be there, but perhaps will feel differently once the hydration and other help kicks in and the mind can think clearly again.

in the interest of the law suit phobic, i will state again clearly here that i make NO allegations against any of the care-givers involved. i'm sure they've been doing the best they know to do (my blame is toward the industry as a whole, and over what may be lacking in the education of medical professionals in this country as far as caring for the whole patient, and better communication, and so on. as far as that goes, the patient themselves should have possibly consented earlier to being admitted at least for a while, but i also don't expect an older person in pain and under the conditions described to really be able to see things objectively enough to make a decision like that until there was just so obviously no other way. we all prefer to be at home when we're ill, and we fear giving up all sense of control.)

the good news is, in hospital they can administer hydration, nutrition, and some of the needed meds by IV, as well as more effective pain management. maybe now they'll be able to get a handle finally on these secondary ailments, and get the patient in better shape to go forward with treatment of the cancer, or at least to go home and feel like a human for a little while. also now they can see first-hand how the patient's condition is 24/7, and not have their judgement clouded because the patient understandably tries to "put on a brave face" during any consultation or treatment appointment, as many people often do.

we've also finally made contact with some hospice folks in the region who may be able to help in various ways.

of course now my friend is a total wreck. thinking if only he'd known to go home to help sooner that somehow he could have prevented some of this. but he was being told things were fine, and then getting a very different story from the patient, than what the reality was, until it could no longer be hidden from him. it is heart-breaking to hear a grown man gasping with tears over guilt he should not be feeling.

my thanks again to all who took the time to read, and share their own painful experiences, and offer what help they could.

prayers of any sort continue to be welcome, even if just for the kind thoughts. any possible gods do not need to worry about whether i've given too little or too much identifying information, if they are out there, they already know. if the professionals are able to get the patient well enough to return home, we will continue to try some of the very helpful suggestions given here.

peace indeed.

[unrepentantcowboy]

I've never tried marinol but I will assure you it's not the same as smoking marijuana.

THC is not the only active ingredient in marijuana.

For the record, I no longer smoke the stuff and haven't for 22 years. But I can tell you there's no anti-nausea medicine I've tried that even remotely compares.

ps. If you ingest marijuana through the digestive system you will not get the same effect as you do when you smoke it.

[Librarian]

an update, and coconut oil massage as a stealth nutritional support strategy:

my friend's family member is back home, the gout and the thrush are responding to the meds she got in hospital (although she's taken to calling my friend "the Pill Nazi...")

but mainly i wanted to THANK YOU again for the great idea of using massage as a way to get some tiny amount of nutrients in via the skin! it totally seems to work! we decided to avoid the whole issue of "food" and her attendant nausea by selling it as my "beauty secret"... so the faint scent from the oil just makes her think of suntan lotion and sunny days and the beach, and somehow then it does NOT trigger any nausea! now, i realize there may only be extremely small amounts of nutrition that she'll get that way, but at this stage, any little bit matters a lot! so PLEASE share that idea with anyone else in similar situations! we got very high grade organic raw coconut oil, but she's using it like a skin lotion, too, and she loves it! ha! what a great trick! i should think this could be useful for any ill person who can't keep down foods--any tiny amount, is better than nothing! oatmeal or rice-water baths are next up on the arsenol!

anyway, she also ate a whole fried egg sandwich this morning, too, and that all by itself is a reason to be happy for her. who does not love a nice fried egg sandwich after being so sick for so long?

again, i am very grateful for all the suggestions that folks offered. we're decorating early now for xmas since that seems to brighten her mood, and we're just trying to embrace and be thankful for each day as it comes.

[Candy*Land]

Thank you for the feedback on the c. oil. I have 2 people in my life right now (the last of my parent group, haha) that are very sick and not eating as much, sleeping quite a bit. It's hard to go through for everyone. I'm so glad your friend and their mother have you to help. I will remember the coconut oil. I think I will make some cookies with it for now, as one of them will eat them. And save the rest for massage as the other parental unit will probably die before spring if the trend continues.

[Athina]

Mmmm... coconut, I can just see the sunny day and blue waters and white sand at the beach!

Librarian, thanks for giving an update on your friend.  Its nice to hear of the bright moments at a sad time of life. 

[ralfy]

A friend shared this info with me yesterday: a local TV program reported on Fuda Cancer Hospital, which is mentioned here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuda_Cancer_Hospital-Guangzhou

and with the official website here

http://www.fudahospital.com/

The English link:

http://www.fudahospital.com/en_asp_new/index.asp

They use a process explained here:

http://www.fudahospital.com/en_asp_new/show_info.asp?typename=Therapies&typename2=&typename3=none&article_showid=1149