I don't want her in a home. Had two surgeries to repair her hyeintal hernia, called fundoplication. That really affected her appetite and the way she eats. She was sent home with a g-tube that was recently removed with the promise that she would drink her ensure 3 times a day and eat better. I have tried everything I can in the kitchen as far as creativity and still she eats a bite maybe and spits it out and this goes on for a long time, however she eats oreo's and candy and ice cream with no problem. Help!
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They got hooked up with a senior lunch program and then I knew they at least got one meal a day.
Now my mom’s in AL and they have an outstanding cook! She’s finally putting on weight and my dad eats lunch with her off and on. He’s fond of the Hardee’s fast food joint near my mom’s AL facility.
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About 18 months before she died, she spent 16 days in the hospital due to a Staph infection that turned out to be MRSA. Her doctor was always very compassionate but honest with me and told me that it would take a miracle for her to survive the drug/antiobiotic regimen required to treat MRSA. Amazingly, she made it through and we took her home. She weighed 79lbs the day we checked out of the hospital, compared to 83lbs when we checked in 16 days earlier. When we took her home, she had no appetite and on her best days she might force down half of a BOOST. A week later, she was down to 75lbs and my sister and I were both on the verge of losing it because we didn't know how to help her! We were literally watching her starve to death and it was killing me.
The Nursing Director at our local hospital became one of my best friends and my emotional rock during this time (and still is to this day). I went by to see her and vent some of my anger and frustration about how helpless I felt. She told me that she had just hired a nurse a few weeks earlier who had shared a story with her about a patient who had no desire or interest in eating and was wasting away. The patient liked a particular brand and flavor of nutritional drink (BOOST or Ensure and only vanilla). So the nurse went to the grocery store and found that Haagen Dazs ice cream had the most calories and highest fat content of all brands. She bought several pints of it in vanilla and starting making the patient 'milkshakes' with the ice cream, Boost/Ensure and also included a smoothie/shake mix with high protein content. The patient loved them and those shakes saved her life!
So I immediately went to the grocery store and bought everything to make similar shakes for my grandma. While I was in the ice cream freezer section, after I stocked up on Haagen Dazs, I saw some ice cream made by a local dairy and suddenly a long-forgotten memory from 30+ years earlier came rushing back to my mind! My grandma LOVED their Butter Pecan ice cream when I was a little kid! =) She stopped buying because my grandfather had heart disease and shes forced him to eat very healthy, so we only ate things that all of us could enjoy. I grabbed all 10-12 pints of Butter Pecan on the shelf without another thought.
Within two weeks, she was back up to 78lbs and barely topped 80lbs at the four week mark! Ice cream saved her life!!!
In the 9-12 months prior to her death, she lost her appetite again but I contacted her doctor before she had significant weight loss. He prescribed Remeron, an anti-depressant that is frequently used as an appetite stimulant, and it started working within a few days. For the rest of her life, we just ramped up the dosage of Remeron (with her doc's consent, of course) to keep her eating well.
I hope this helps! I know how difficult it is to deal with this situation and you will be in my thoughts and prayers!
Kindest regards,
JasonR
LadeeC
Have your mother eat a bite of her regularly served meal and then she can have one oreo cookie, or a piece of a candy, or even a small serving of ice cream. Do you see what I am trying to say to you? Have your mother do a little something for you so that she can get what she wants. Begin to build into more bites of food for each meal served before she gets another oreo cookie, or candy or ice cream. Compliment her when she does what you want her to do. She will believe that she is outsmarting you when it is the other way around. Am I right?
Alternate between bites of food and servings of sweets. Have her eat a bite of food and then eat a serving of sweet and then back to another bite of food followed by a serving of sweet. Do you see the alternating servings of food and sweets?
strawberries egg whipped in and eaten makes it frothy and has protein, I do not know of anyone that likes ensure on a regular basis...