Hello, I am new to this website. I am caring for my lovely husband who is having a stent fitted this week. I would like to know how successful this procedure is and what I should look out for if there are problems when we come home.
Will my husband still feel sick and not want to eat (he is on liquid nutrient drinks at the moment) but is being sick nearly every day. He is so worried that these symptoms will persist because he is so looking forward to eating solid food again.I believe this will take some time before he can do so,
Any information would be very much appreciated. I am hoping that this procedure will give me extra time with him and he will regain more strength that he has lost.
My thoughts are with all of you and your carers, One day they will find a cure for this dreadful disease.
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Nerine
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I had a stent fitted 3 years ago while waiting for my initial surgery. It certainly helped with managing more textured food although initially for the first week I stayed on very soft or liquid foods, adding foods gradually. The hospital should give you a list of foods to avoid, keeping the stent clean etc and it would be a good idea to see the dietician too for advice regards nutrition. Its so hard to find just what foods you can manage and even now I find some days I live on belvita biscuits and slimfastmilk shakes with a little added cream. I found I was aware of the stent as mine was quite low down. I personally found it quite uncomfortable (bit like indigestion in one spot ) but this was 3 years ago so things might have moved on. It will also depend on where its placed and each individuals sensitivity. One person on the site discovered mention of a stent that dissolved over time but I can't remember a follow up on that topic. I never had a problem with sickness afterwards so I do hope the stent will similarly help your husbands sickness as well as allowing him to regain some weight.
Has your husband been offered any palliative treatment with regards to the cancer such as chemo or radiotherapy?
Get all the support you can Nerine and look after you too! My very best wishes,
Hi Charlie, Thank you for replying to my question about stents and I apologise for not doing so earlier. I didn't realise I had to come back to this page for an answer. I completed a profile and had some lovely responses but unfortunately they don't all seem to be on my activities list for some reason although they came up on via email. Anyway, once again many thanks. My husband is up and down at the moment having a lot of pain in his left kidney area. He was sick today too but it may be the medication given to him for the mouth thrush that seems to have come back. He is not responding very well to the iron tablets either and our doctor told us to stop these for the momet. He sleeps loads but does take fortisip and calogen even though he has no appetite but he is trying. He tried solids but at the moment doesn't want solids. We are having palliative treatment via our surgery and the district nurses. We saw a Mcmillan nurse once way back but she hasn't been again.
Best wishes Nerine
There is some information about stents in the OPA blue booklet 'Swallowing - Nutrition when it is Difficult' that you can either download from the OPA website opa.org.uk/downloads.html or by ringing the helpline 0121 704 9860, but I have reproduced it below.
But bear in mind that this is primarily written for those with cancer of the oesophagus or at the junction between the oesophagus and stomach and there may be variations according to the location of the tumour.
Stents do not get fitted unless there is a good reason; and by-and-large people do find them helpful, so to that extent they are successful, or better than the situation would be without them.
The stents are inserted by the same kind of procedure as an endoscopy, and they are released to expand to their normal size when the endoscopist has positioned it in its best location. They create support for the oesophagus to maintain a channel for the food to pass through, which would often otherwise be closed by the pressure from the tumour. The stents do come in a variety of profiles and sizes. Sometimes people do feel them inside, but this often depends on the position and whether they have to be high up, low down or not. It varies according to the individual.
Like all things there are things that you have to be careful about with them.
It is good advice to start off on the softer foods.
• Don’t rush eating.
• Have soft food in small mouthfuls and chew it well.
• Drink a little during and after meals - fizzy drinks are helpful.
• Sit up straight when eating.
• Don’t tackle large lumps of food - cut them up small and chew well.
• Spit out anything not chewed.
• Mix food supplements such as Complan very thoroughly - dry powder
will block the stent.
• If you feel the stent is blocked stop eating, drink a little and walk
around a bit.
• If the blockage persists for more than 3 hours ring your GP or contact
the hospital where you were treated.
• Clean the stent after eating with a fizzy drink.
• Keep teeth and dentures in good order so that chewing is effective.
Foods to avoid:
• Green salads and raw vegetables
• Fried egg white and hard boiled egg
• Fruit skins and pith of grapefruit and orange
• Tough meat and gristle
• Fish with bones
• White bread, crusty bread and toast
• Shredded Wheat and Puffed Wheat
• Hard chips and crisps
• Nuts and dried fruits
Will your husband still feel sick? It depends on what is causing the sickness at the moment. Is it for all foods, or only some? The stomach does react violently against some things, and a stent in itself may not affect this issue. So it would be sensible to ask the medical staff to see whether, perhaps some (more, different?) medication might help. They will be interested in trying to solve the vomiting problem, not least because the stents can occasionally shift position, and reducing your husband's vomiting would reduce this risk.
We do give you and your husband all our best wishes, and hope that the procedure will be successful. It is a hard situation for you both, and you probably feel that you want to try and increase the chances of maintaining your strength and morale whilst you can. Getting nutrition into the system will help, and the ability to eat food 'normally' is quite an important quality of life issue.
Hi Alan, Sorry I have taken so long in replying to you. I have just found your response to my question regarding stents. Sorry, I am not too good finding my way around.
The stent has been doing its job although after a trial with solid foods my husband has gone back to liquid nutrients, Fortisip and Calogen extra. He is experiencing a constant pain in the stomach and left kidney area but paracetamol seems to take the edge off it and he drops off to sleep a lot during the day. We are taking it day by day, as you do. Thanks again for your interest.
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