[Sca-cooks] OT-OP-help for ideas, please

Huette von Ahrens ahrenshav at yahoo.com
Sun Sep 23 20:16:57 PDT 2007


I understand your problems and sympathize.  My grandmother, just before she turned 100, developed
a tumor in her throat, which blocked her ability to swallow.  My aunt would puree all of her food,
so that she would be able to eat normal food.  Once the tumor fully blocked her throat, she had to
be hospitalized.  She died a few weeks later.  That was in 1993.

My mother, who is 91, has problems eating much also, although she does still have all her teeth.
But because she had a stroke four years ago, she doesn't move enough to build up an appetite.
She also likes her sweets.  I discussed this with her doctor who essentially said, "She is at the
end of her life.  Indulge her, but make sure that she gets her nutrition, either by giving her
daily supplements or by drinking Ensure."  My mother also takes three or four bites of real food,
saying she is full, but when we offer her jello or yoghurt or cookies, she finds plenty of room
for them.  I make sure that her jello has fresh, but soft fruit in it, like bananas or canned
peaches.
Yoghurt is a milk product and has good bactium that helps her digestion.  For your grandfather,
make him fresh puddings and custards, because they have more nutritional value than those
commercial versions.

For your information, Boost and Ensure are not "milk shakes".  They are nutritional supplements.
Both in my grandmother's and my mother's cases we found that they tolerated Ensure much better
than Boost.  For some reason Boost causes/caused diarrhea, when Ensure does not.  You could also
give him Slim Fast with each meal, which will give him his nutrition while he eats his sweets.  If
you make it with real ice cream, he will like it better.  

But you should remember that getting him to eat anything is the idea.  Even if it is sweet.  Since
he doesn't have teeth, you don't have to worry about tooth decay.  I doubt that he will develop
diabetes in his old age.  My mother's doctor is right.  They are old.  Let them have what they
want, but make sure that they get their daily nutrition through supplements.  Supplements can
substitute for nutritious food.  That is my take on it.  YMMV.

Huette


--- chawkswrth at aol.com wrote:

> Good Morning!
> 
> I come to all of you, seeking some help, please. Both my Mother and I are about at the end of
> our rope.
> My Grandfather (her Father) is 101. He is in poor health, weak, with very painful Arthritis. We
> are having a great deal of trouble finding things that he will eat. 
> He is awaiting dentures, so he has no teeth. He wants 'mushy food'
> He complains that what we fix has no taste. He can only taste sweet things, which is not
> unusual. The sweet taste buds are the first to develope and the last to go. 
> He may eat about 3-4 bites and then says he is full. No room for anything except pudding or
> jello. 
> 
> I need something easily eaten, tasty, and packed as full of nutrition as possible. I have
> started him on Boost Milk shakes, but, man cannot live by milkshakes alone....
> 
> Any ideas are welcome! 
> 
> Thank you!
> 
> Helen
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My thoughts are whirled like a potter's wheel;   King Henry VI, part I: I, v 
http://www.twoheartsentwinedpottery.com/


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