I've had a bit of a rough go of things over the past 6 weeks or so.
It started in Mid-November when I suffered a gallstone induced attack of pancreatitis that landed me in the local hospital for a week. Initially they were very hip on removing my gallbladder but once I spoke with the local hospital GI about the cancer and other complicating factors, he agreed with me that I should consult my oncology team at the major cancer center/hospital I regularly treat at. When I was discharged from the local hospital, I was still having a fair amount of pain but was able to hold down sufficient food (according to them) to be discharged, which was fine by me. In reality my diet was extremely limited to soups, Jell-O and maybe a turkey sandwich or some sliced chicken breast.
I followed up with my oncologist and a member of the surgical team she is affiliated with. Part of the issue being that the pain I have been experiencing was not necessarily correlating with the gallbladder or where MRI was showing the cancer to be. So the plan we came up with was to remove the gall bladder and attempt to repair a hernia behind my navel that MRI showed contained a small met. We had to delay surgery a few more weeks to give chemo a chance to wash out of my system, and I was able to largely maintain that limited diet and I lost quite a bit of weight over that 1 month period or so.
Surgery turned out to be more complicated than initially thought. The gallbladder was able to come out laproscopically, but it was more inflamed than they thought and some bile spilled during the procedure that required quite a bit of clean-up. The hernia was more of an open procedure (21 CM incision with 24 staples) and the "met" that the MRI showed hiding in there was in actuality an 8 CM tumor. The good news out of this is at least there is a tissue sample large enough to go biomarker and genetic testing on that we were unable to do with the samples when I was first diagnosed. The bad news is that they saw significant more metastatic activity on the abdominal wall and liver than MRI was showing.
Recovery is also taking longer than expected, in part because I'm still having trouble tolerating food.
Sorry for the long set-up but we're getting to the crux of my question.
At this point they want me to get protein and calories in anyway I can. I've never been particularly able to handle Ensure, Boost, etc. Even the lactose free versions cause considerable gas and bloating. I've tried Carnation instant breakfast using Lactaid milk to mix it with essentially the same effect. In fact today it's made me so unsettled, I've had trouble even eating broth. The surgeon is concerned about my strength to be able to resume chemo in the next 2 weeks or so.
Does anyone know of a brand of supplemental shake that does not have any milk solids (not just lactose free)? Or do you have recipes for smoothies or something similar (I seem to be ok with yogurt) that you like, High Protein, low-ish sugar (Though at this point I'll sacrifice glycemic control somewhat to get something I can tolerate)?
Thanks all, and happy new year.