Weaning yourself off the Stomach Peg is an important part of the process. Your doctor will tell you something like “YOU NEED TO MAINTAIN YOUR BODY WEIGHT FOR THREE WEEKS WITHOUT USING THE STOMACH PEG, BEFORE WE WILL TAKE THE PEG OUT.”
This process starts about two months before. I wish I was one of the lucky people who could just eat ice cream to put on the weight, but alas I could not.; to much dairy gave me heart burn, and the sugar in the ice cream made me cough (several months after the peg was removed, ice cream still makes me cough).
I still couldn’t eat a big meal, but I could eat four medium meals. This is the only point in your life when your doctor will proscribe that you should eat more and put on weight. GO WITH IT!! At work, I liked watered down oatmeal for my ten o’clock meal. By this time my friends and co-workers were saying I looked great. But really your at about 50%, which is vastly better than running at 10%. They will live vicariously through you. Remember you don’t have to worry about “FAT FREE”.
My successful tricks-
Soy milk with whey powder-
Especially the vanilla favor was a favorite breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I used it to wash down even hard to eat stuff like breads and crackers.
Cucumber and Spinach Shakes –
A friend recommended this because the cucumber and spinach help fight “acid stomach”.
Big Bowl of Soup Shakes-
My wife would make me a bowl of regular soup. I would eat as much as I could (at the beginning it might have been as little as three spoonfuls). Then blend the rest and drink as a warm shake. This may seem odd, but the time you get to this point, everything is better as a shake. Split Pea Shake! Chowder Shake! Minestrone Shake!
Butter-
Oh butter tastes great on everything – noodles, oatmeal, eggs, toast (if you can), cream soup (Loved Chowders), noodles (yes buttered noodles need to be mentioned twice), etc.
Cheese –
For some reason milk and I disagreed but cheese and I got along fine. Especially, soft cheeses like brie. My friend knew I couldn’t have beer, so he got me beer flavored cheese like Porter Cheese, and Chimay Cheese.
Peanut Butter and Celery-
I was surprised that this worked. There is enough juice in the celery to melt the peanut butter that it was easy to swallow.
Receiving Chemo and fluids at Dana Farber
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