I'm looking for suggestions for high calorie meal replacements for my mum with partial obstruction. Would really appreciate some advice.

[Hawk86]

Bit of background - my mum was diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian in March 2015. in the last two months she has had partial intestinal obstruction, and the avastin she was on doesn't seem to be working. She may be starting a different chemo soon, however at the moment she has been in and out of hospital for weeks at a time, unable to keep food down from vomiting so much. She has some ascites and still has the partial obstruction, neither of which are helping the situation.

The problem is that she has gone from 10 stone, down to 7.5 stone in the last 6 weeks. She hardly keeps any food down, and she DESPISES fortisip and ensure milkshakes and juice to the point where they make her so nauseous she vomits.

I am hoping to find someone here who has tried a few of these meal replacements and might know of any that are more palatable?

The only other ones I have heard of are complan and scandishake (on the nhs?)

She is supposedly seeing a dietician soon (at my request) but I know from experience now that if you want the best, you have to do the research yourself and ask for what you want directly.

Bonus question: has anyone else had obstruction? If so, how did it turn out? I feel like they are just treating symptoms with steroids and metaclopramide just now and aren't actually trying to FIX it longer term so she can get home. It's making her lose the will to fight, and she has always been positive until recently. What can be done? Is it just a stoma bag or TPN as the next stage?

Hoping for help as the whole family is at a loose end, and I am losing sleep from worrying about this constantly.

Thank you x

[Hidden]

Hi there sorry to hear about your mother, I suggest you ask for a meeting with her consultant and speak to him about what is best for her. I honestly dont know how to answer your question because of the obstruction issue. Maybe easily digested foods like jelly yogurt etc with the permission of her team. I do realise it must be hard seeing your mother lose so much weight but hopefully you can work with the team to help her regain enough strength to return home

[Susan3]

Sorry to hear your mum is having such a tough time of it. It'sa very worrying time for you on top of everything else ye have been through. I ended up back in hospital with partial obstruction after my second surgery . Don't know if it's because I have a stoma but it resolved itself after a few days . I was miserable with nausea /vomitting for few days so can't imagine what it's like for a few weeks. Think it's really good idea to get diticisn involved but don't be afraid toast her Drs too what can be done to improve her quality of life. Best of luck and hope your mum improves very soon .

[TinaB1]

Hi there ..

I was wondering whether your mum has been referred to a hospice for pain and bowel management. I was living with a partial obstruction for a few years after a number of total obstructions.

When I was referred to the hospice without being offered more treatment for the blockage, I was very upset. In the end, I kept my appointment and the outcome was that my life improved. The pain improved and the nausea was controlled much better. My bowel wasn't working properly and had been poorly managed by the team at the hospital which caused me unnecessary distress. The people at the hospice had the expertise I needed.

Amazingly, the blockage disappeared on its own later. The bowel shoots in and out all the time and can settle itself in the end. I hope this happens for your mum.

Xxxxx

[lesleysage]

Dear Hawk86,

This sounds horrid for you all. Like your Mum my tummy threw back fortisip etc. I wasn't hospitalized but at home, losing weight from an already slim body so in the end, I consulted a dietitian privately (cost £65 first consultation and £35 the second) for help to maximise nutritional and calorific value in small amounts of food (e.g. 2oz homemade rice pud was my breakfast but her advice boosted it's value hugely). She cannot prescribe but wrote to my GP asking him to prescribe Pro-cal and Maxijule, both of which were utterly tasteless and worked for me; he hadn't heard of them but was happy to source them and they were on NHS. Pro-cal is a white liquid of which just 40mls gives nearly 200 calories and I steadily sipped this over the day. The Maxijule is a white powder which I sprinkled into the rice pud, on a ryvita on which was a spread of honey or nut butter & honey (a lunch option), into a spoonful of mashed potato, scrambled egg (supper option)...just anything into which a teaspoon or so could incorporate this white powder. I still lost weight but the rate of loss slowed down a lot. I had lost over 2 stone in the first chemo, finding it hard to regain back to my 'normal slim' self before recurrence 15months later. After another major op and onto dose-dense carb + taxol + Avastin (got mouth ulcers badly with this) I dreaded loosing so much weight again. With the Pro-cal, Maxijule plus various tips from the dietitian to boost what food my tummy could cope with, my loss was only 1stone.

I really hope something in this helps your Mum and hence you all.

L xx

[Hawk86 in reply to lesleysage]

I know I asked this question months ago, I have just been so busy with everything that's been going on with my mum and studies. I just wanted to say thank you so much for this advice. My mum tried the procal and it has been a life saver literally. Thank you so so much for taking the time to help. We all really appreciate it

[lesleysage in reply to Hawk86]

Really great to receive this from you.  It is so nice to know what you've struggled to work out for yourself and then shared on here has helped someone else.  This is what this website is all about, to me.

Warm wishes for lots of good days....one at a time, of course as in this game, none of us 'get greedy'!!!

L xx

[JPTjpt123]

Hi. Yes I had a bowel obstruction and was in hospital for a week with only fluids going into my veins. They thought of putting a stent into my bowel but found there were too many obstructions and the surgery would be not a good idea. I too have lost a lot of weight and am on Caelyx chemo with only one to go, but the last one my CA125 went up slightly so I really hope my next chemo it will have come down. anyway I have felt not hungry and certain foods made my heave. I found that spicy foods I could tolerate and I sometimes really look forward to having spicy chicken wings from KFC. I live in Australia by the way. So I am trying to east spicy foods, a bit at a time and it seems to be working. Maybe try it if you like spicy.

kindest regards

Maria