Wow, Cathi, thank you for posting this today - my brother's appetite is nil, and his taste buds are COMPLETELY out of whack. He was not able to describe it to me, but your post will help me understand his situation a lot better - I'm printing it off and will run it by him in our phone chat tonight.

His diabetes restricts what he can eat even further, but right now I'm trying to encourage him to eat whatever he wants because he's not eating anything at all. He's enjoying fruit, but that puts his sugar too high. The only other thing he seems to be keeping down is soup and Glucerna, which is the diabetic version of ensure. I'll tell him about mixing it with ice cream (he loves ice cream, but is scared to eat it because of the diabetes), as well as the popsicles and rice.

Someone else told us that meat is also very difficult for chemo patients to eat while undergoing treatment. We cooked him a steak supper on Saturday - it was what he had a craving for. He almost couldn't keep it down, but did manage to eat a good serving. He particularly enjoyed the baked potato. Hubby made him some homemade zucchini soup (full of potatoes and other healthy veggies) and he's able to keep that down too, so that's good for him.

Please feel free to share any other tips - my brother's only just started. Because he's been having miserable side-effects from other meds, he can't tell how he's reacting to the chemo - all he knows is he is extremely fatigued, weak and no appetite - but that's how he's been feeling for weeks, so the chemo didn't make it worse or better! He goes every two weeks now, so we'll find out soon enough how he's going to react to the chemo.

Does your Dad "do" anything while getting chemo? I was thinking of bringing along a travel game next time - he likes backgammon and scrabble, and we think we can play those at his leisure - you know, play a few minutes, nap an hour, play a few minutes, nap for two more hours. Some people read, but he hasn't been able to read since his diagnosis (he used to be an avid reader).

I do know that he was VERY interested in my chocolate brownie that I so cruelly ate in front of him (he had already eaten his lunch)...if his appetite continues to worsen I may just throw all caution to the wind and get him his own brownie the next time!