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Rachel Williams said:First off, try getting a prescription for Megestat to help boost appetite, along with some Prosur, Ensure, or Supportan drinks. Those things are basically calorie bombs and really help patients maintain muscle mass while they struggle to get enough calories in. Both types of items require a prescription, and cancer patients are entitled to both. You can buy the drinks over the counter, but they run about $14-$5.00 per bottle. As for Megestat, it’s around $267, so it’s definitely not worth buying without a prescription.
Good luck!
Thanks, Rachel. Do I need a specific recommendation from a specialist for those supplements, or is just showing the diagnosis report enough?
I’ve been reading through this thread over the last few days because my father-in-law was just diagnosed with cancer—well, nothing is concretely confirmed yet; everything is still being processed. He’s currently lying in the hospital waiting for a CT scan, which should happen sometime next week. My husband and mother-in-law are incredibly worried; according to the oncologist in San Francisco, the situation doesn't look good at all.
It all started about a month and a half ago when he caught what he thought was just the "flu." After that, he started feeling Pain in his lower back. He just chalked it up to getting older, thinking it would pass if he just waited it out at the doctor's office. But the pain wouldn't go away. He was having a hard time moving around, constantly shifting positions just to find a way to sleep without agony. Then, swelling appeared in that area of his back. He’s also lost weight rapidly and is looking somewhat jaundiced. After a month of dealing with the pain, he finally relented and went to the doctor. They sent him for a lung X-ray, and the results showed a 14mm shadow, suggesting it’s likely secondary. His liver enzymes are absolutely terrifying: GGT is over 1000, and AST is 500!! The doctor interprets this as metastases in the liver as well. The day before yesterday, they performed a biopsy on the mass (the report describes it as being the size of a baby's head), and the results confirm it is indeed metastatic. The doctor is being very pessimistic.
We still don't know exactly what kind of tumor we're dealing with. The doctor suspects it originated in the abdomen, but clearly, it has spread everywhere. Time feels like it's dragging for us; we can't wait long enough for that CT scan. Without it, we're stuck not knowing what our next move should be.
Does anyone have any advice on dietary supplements we could get him? Anything that might help him right now? He isn't eating much of anything.
Thanks