Comment

Comment on Discussion Thread 💡 Sunday 29 June

You are such a good egg. Healing takes time and a whole lot of resources, so having you there is going to give her the best chance of an effective recovery.

Ensure and the like have an artificial taste that a lot of people can’t tolerate. There used to be a flavourless supplement, I’ll have a sticky beak and see if it’s still around. There’s two main things; cook what she likes/feels like, and making sure every mouthful is as calorie dense as you can make it while she still likes it. You’re doing good work there, and it’s so so tough. We are all here as a resource and a safe venting place.

source

Sort:hotnew top

Bottom_racer@aussie.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
Really good advice, thankyou. Definitely going to try to make every mouthful count.

source
- melbaboutown@aussie.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
  Agreed Ensure gets old very quickly and Fortisip is even more sugary. Vom. One way is to make a cup of coffee as usual and pour in a swig of Ensure as if it were a coffee creamer. It dilutes it to a more bearable level, Decaf coffee with vanilla Ensure probably tastes a little bit like a fancy Starbucks coffee.
  
  You can heat milk in the microwave and add sugar and instant coffee for a ‘latte’ or use hot chocolate packets to get fortified milk down. Sometimes this is easier than a meal.
  
  Another option is nibbles. An open pack of biscuits next to her with a cup of tea.
  
  Also is she just not hungry, is she forgetting to eat, is she feeling sick, is she fatigued or having motor issues so it’s not worth the effort, is she having trouble swallowing? Is the food and drink not sitting well?
  
  I don’t mean to bring up anything undignified but sometimes after bowel surgery there can be issues with things like post surgery gastroparesis. Also after a prolonged period of not eating or only liquids, beginning to eat again can be quite difficult and unpleasant. That in itself can cause atrophy of the digestive system and bring on gastroparesis. Cue effortful eating.
  
  Surely the hospital has a dietitian and a gastro that might get on top of this.
  
  source