Agreed Ensure gets old very quickly and Fortisip is even more intensely 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.
Edit: They also do pudding/custard!
spoiler
You can heat milk in the microwave and add sugar (optional) and instant coffee for a ‘latte’ or use hot chocolate packets to get some fortified milk down. Sometimes this is easier than a meal and you can tailor it to her tastes. Hydration is probably a higher priority than food.
Another option is nibbles. An open pack of biscuits next to her with a cup of tea. Perhaps even a lollipop or a cracker would be enough to stimulate her appetite and get her through any overly-hungry aversion. If she likes ginger perhaps try some ginger sweets like ginger ale, ginger bears, Gin Gins or Chimes. If it’s nausea there are dissolvable wafer tablets like Ondansetron that might help. Even some peppermint 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. A period without eating (or being able to eat) 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.
Feeding tubes might be an option but are an incredible removal of autonomy and may be a lot of risk for the results. They’re not always recommended.
Edit: Also as you get older, with cancer, or at end of life you can lose your appetite. I’m very sorry. I’m hoping your mum perks up a little and more support can be worked out smoothly.
Really good advice, thankyou. Definitely going to try to make every mouthful count.
Agreed Ensure gets old very quickly and Fortisip is even more intensely 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.
Edit: They also do pudding/custard!
spoiler
You can heat milk in the microwave and add sugar (optional) and instant coffee for a ‘latte’ or use hot chocolate packets to get some fortified milk down. Sometimes this is easier than a meal and you can tailor it to her tastes. Hydration is probably a higher priority than food.
Another option is nibbles. An open pack of biscuits next to her with a cup of tea. Perhaps even a lollipop or a cracker would be enough to stimulate her appetite and get her through any overly-hungry aversion. If she likes ginger perhaps try some ginger sweets like ginger ale, ginger bears, Gin Gins or Chimes. If it’s nausea there are dissolvable wafer tablets like Ondansetron that might help. Even some peppermint 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. A period without eating (or being able to eat) 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.
Feeding tubes might be an option but are an incredible removal of autonomy and may be a lot of risk for the results. They’re not always recommended.
Edit: Also as you get older, with cancer, or at end of life you can lose your appetite. I’m very sorry. I’m hoping your mum perks up a little and more support can be worked out smoothly.