Anyone with experience of those going through chemo (SENS)

Sorry to hear about your Mum, I can't really offer any advice but I'll watch with interest as my Step-mum started her chemo on Wednesday.

Have you tried speaking to Macmillan? They really helped my friend and her family when her Dad was going through chemo - lots of practical advice.

My best friend went through chemo. Her H bought her a smoothie maker & she would drink them all day long.

Hi - my mum had the same issue with the mouth ulcers, she had lots of home made soups. She found Corsydol mouthwash gave some relief to the ulcers, she also kept a packet of ginger biscuits next to the bed to help when she woke up with sickness.

This website might be helpful http://www.cancerbackup.org.uk/Home

I found dequiden(sp) tablets helped and I also lived off bland soups, my favourite was butternut and sweet potato.

My little girl is having chemotherapy just now (for a non-cancer disease but same doses) and she's had some awful mouth sores - at one point her whole little mouth was filled with them. She was tube fed over that time anyway, but when she did want to try food, we were given a spray called Difflam which seemed to temporarily relieve the pain so she could have soft food - mash with gravy, smoothies, yohgurt, fruit puree etc.

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Hi Bones,

Firstly best wishes to your Mum and a huge hug for her. My Mum went through Chemo in the summer and here are a few tips how she got through it. To stop mouth ulcers she used mouth wash twice a day in addition to this during the chemo session she was encouraged to suck ice cubes or drink ice cold water. She changed her eating habits and always had breakfast, a cooked meal at lunchtime and then sandwiches/soup at tea time. Again she ate little and often, when she wasn't feeling good and didn't want to eat we made her a slice of toast,crumpets or soup. My SIL always had them round for tea twice a week which also encouraged her to eat a little more. Mum gave up coffee during her treatment and drank green tea and water. After the Chemo session she took the prescribed anti sickness for the two they recommended however didn't take them beyond that. When she arrived home from her treatment she spent the next couple of days sleeping through as much as she could and in her case it seemed to work. Dad would wake her for her tablets and food but mostly leave her to sleep it off. Then for the rest of the week, she would take it easy. We took all pressure off her when going through it, so she only had to worry about herself and for once in her life she listened to us and did what she was told!

I am proud of how my Mum coped with it all and until you are in the position you don't realise what a huge affect it has on everybody in the family, but she got through it and is looking much better, especially as her hair is growing again.

Not sure about websites as we had comprehensive advice and leaflets from the hospital.

Be strong for your Mum and give her all your love and support.

M

Hi Bones when our son was going through this he lived on smoothies and nutella choc spread. He also ate a lot os mash which we used to put carrots and swede with a little gravy and whizz it all up. He also loved gloopy jelly. Hope that helps.

Thanks everyone - your advice is much appreciated x

So sorry to hear about your mum.

I didn't have mouth ulcers but I did have very sore gums and sore teeth - not toothache - just very odd soreness. It made eating very difficult, so I would try to numb my mouth by eating cold lollies or ice cold water or by going to the other end of the spectrum and drinking very hot tea. Not ideal - clearly - but it worked for me.

Food wise, I used to just fancy things and it could differ from mash and gravy to chocolate cake, so much so that we used to stuff the fridge with as much as we could just in case I fancied something. I can remember my consultant telling me that the chemo would give me very odd eating habits and it did! If I fancied a hot meal at 3am in the morning generally I would have it as maybe at the normal time I wouldn't fancy it. Basically, what ever I fancied, when ever I fancied it, I had it. Anything to keep my strength up.

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