Pancreatic Cancer FAQ - eating after Whipple's operation

"To your questions, what did this patient have removed? Did she keep all her stomach or lose nearly half of it...It is still early days for this patient, are there other foods she does not like the taste of, is it that bread sort of turns to sawdust in her mouth or is it the taste. I found that it was a good three months before I could eat normally. Some things like chocolate took much longer. I cannot eat overly sweet things. My taste for coffee was affected, I could drink a cappuccino when out but could not drink instant coffee at home, my taste for it came back but is now affected by chemo."

" my ... weighed 148 pounds before he got sick. within a month he was down to 128 pounds and he had the whipple in Dec. He weighed 106 when he was released from the hospital. The one thing he couldn't stand eating was bread but he loved it before he had the surgery. He complained that it filled him up too much and caused painful bloating. He does however eat biscuits and gravy now like crazy. He has been on TPN since his discharge and now weighs 121.3. He is taking Creon to replace digestive enzymes and it also increases his appetite. "

" I had my whipple in November, 2003. .... I weighed 190lbs when this all started and am now at 150. A lot of foods I used to like tasted and still do taste funny, bread being one of them. That is the radiation and some of the effects of the Whipple. All I can say is it does get better. I ate Italian bread the other night, was good. I still can't eat sandwiches tho. I watch the food network and when something strikes my fancy I go find it and eat it. "

"My husband,..., had a whipple in Sept 03 and is also on the ESPAC3 trial here in Australia. ... got 5FU for his chemotherapy. He has one week on chemo and three weeks off. He weighed 70kg before chemo started. During the cycle he can drop anywhere from 4-5kg over 2 weeks and by the time he is back on he is up to 70kgs again. It is a bit of a yo-yo. His taste buds have suffered and can not taste much. However, anything citrus has a flavour! "

" I too have had a whipples in June 2003. I can relate to your patient because I had a tumor in the head of my pancreas that stopped the flow of toxins being flushed through my system and therefore I went jaundice..... As for weight loss, I found that if I didnt take my digestive enzymes with every meal then I would loose weight rapidly and large amounts of it. It is important not to starve your body during this time as you need all the vitamins and nutrition as you can get in order for the body to repair. Once I started to take it with every bit of food that went in mouth I no longer have diarrhoea and weight has stablized. If I do loose weigh I loose maybe 500 grams not 5 kilos. "

The wife of another patient said that whilst in hospital recovering from the Whipple's her husband ,then boyfriend, was given sandwiches for lunch by the nurses. When the surgeon came round he asked what they were doing there and took them away.

One patient commented that fruit and vegetables went straight through. There were comments about broad beans, peas, baked beans and sweetcorn all going straight through. Someone couldn't eat salad and vegetables.

Another said that immediately after her Whipple's she couldn't face food and was on supplement drinks. She lost weight again and then eventually was suddenly able to eat again and didn't stop!

Reasons for patients not wanting to eat were given as tiredness, fatigue, mouth ulcers (when on chemotherapy). One patient said that licorice helps mouth ulcers and that the thick mouth wash was also very good for treating ulcers.

Some reported going off bread and potatoes. One patient said that butter croissants were better than bread.

One patient reported problem with milk and now has soya. She had a bad reaction to milk at first but was gradually going back onto it.

Another said that cold foods were easier to tolerate as couldn't smell them.

Someone said that spicy food made them feel hungry. Another that ginger helps nausea, another that alcohol stimulated appetite, someone couldn't drink fruit juice and someone else drank lemon and water.