Eating Out
Eating when you have gastric cancer is already a chore. Your stomach doesn't work the way it's supposed to because there's cancer in there wreaking havoc with your motility. In my case, because the tumours were so close to the junction where the stomach and esophagus meet, they had to place an esophageal stent in there.
It's sitting in there now, squishing the tumours, showing 'em who's boss. There are many kinds of stents, and mine is mesh, metal and permanent. It's partially covered which means most of its outside is coated in some kind of smooth material - but the edges are like "chicken wire" which allows the soft tissue to grow into it, hence making the stent "a part of me".
I'm lucky, I have TWO stents. The first one worked fine, for a while. Eventually I was regurgitating again and soon I could barely manage liquids. Tumour granulation (whatever that means) was blocking the way. So we put a second one in about 6cm above the junction. Now I have a long ass stent. Stent. Stent. Stent. I fucking hate that word.
Now there's a thing called the stent diet. I could put up pictures of stents and dietitian plans but you can easily google that shit. I'm here to tell you my experience. MY experience is that stents are a fucking pain in the ass.
There are many things you can't eat with a stent because they could get stuck and block the stent. Things like steak, chicken, grisly meats in general, doughy fresh bread - basically anything delicious like pizza. I'm not sure whether I can technically have rice or not - some dietitians say yes, some say no.
My dietitian / nutritionist? WHO KNOWS? I had one come see me in hospital when I had the first stent, and had another call me when I was having issues before the second one was placed (She even said people with stents don't usually have this much issue eating lol). Every time I've asked to see one since, she hasn't shown up. So I'm just playing the guessing game with my eating.
I'm super careful with what I eat. I chew thoroughly and I take tiny bites. The other day, I wasn't so careful and I had to cough up whole pieces of pork balls (well not the whole ball, just parts I'd chewed). The meat was just too tough to "fall through" the stent so it got stuck.
The problem with that is then more stuff wants to come up. Then an already inflamed esophagus (I was just coming off my chemo around this time) becomes more inflamed. It causes the "hole" to get smaller because soft tissue is getting all inflamed around the stent opening.
I hope that paints a clear picture of what it's like to eat with a stent. Like I said, it's a pain in the ass and you never know what's going to get stuck. It's not like we can look down our throat to see how big the pathway is, or where the stent sits inside the stomach (a LOT of it is sitting in the stomach because the first one was placed too low)
If you google anything about stents and eating with stents, it's all medical journals about stents and malignancy and other scary shit. My mum says that knowing too much is bad because then I worry too much. It's true but then I can't stop looking shit up because nobody is giving me answers!!
So yeah, now someone can stumble across this blog and go "Oh hey so this is what I can expect with a stent! Sounds like a nightmare!"
It's not SO bad. You can still have your favourite foods, you just have to modify it. Burgers are a no go but I can have a deconstructed burger - meat patties and lots of sauce. The sauce is key to stent eating. Mayonaise, ketchup, anything. Make sure your food is coated in it - it'll help it slide through the stent like a fat kid in a well lubricated water slide.
Today, I went out to a cafe and unfortunately their kitchen was closed. I immediately panicked because I knew they had pancakes and hash browns and other shit I could eat, so what was I gonna eat now? I looked in their cabinet of cafe food that was on offer with trepidation. I settled on a quiche - I could eat eggs as long as it's not fried or hard boiled.
I had to take out all the spinach, tomato and other stringy bits but I managed to eat bits of cheese, lots of egg and even some bacon bits! I really shouldn't have swallowed the bacon but FUCK IT. I lived!
Eating out is scary for me. I love pizza but the toppings and base are too risky so if we do Italian, I have to hope they have gnocchi or a simple pasta available. Sushi was something I tried at the wrong time - when my stent was starting to get blocked. So now I'm traumatised from that day of constant regurgitation. Reminded me too much of pre-diagnosis days when I had no idea why I was throwing up my precious sushi.
There's a lot of favourite foods I can't eat anymore - but dang if I won't try to somehow get them in me. It's just a matter of getting over a change of texture! You see, in case it hasn't become clear already... I fucking love food.
I fucking LOVEEEEEEEEEEEEE food.
Which is why getting gastric cancer and having my diet restricted due to tumours is the biggest cosmic fucking joke in the world. Please applaud the fates on their sense of dark humour.
We gather around food socially so much, we don't even realise it sometimes. Friends will ask to catch up with me over food or a drink, not thinking how difficult it can be for me on some days. Food is integral to our lives. It fuels us. You get up in the morning and think "What shall I eat today?" or you turn to your partner in the evening and ask "What do you want for dinner?"
Now the conversation is more like, "What can you eat today?" "Can you eat this?"
It's unsettling, upsetting and unfair. I hate it and I will always hate it, until the day I die. Unless they miraculously are able to cure me - then I'll be happy because I won't have fucking cancer! HOORAY!
But until then... RAGE. RAGE!!!!!!!
It's sitting in there now, squishing the tumours, showing 'em who's boss. There are many kinds of stents, and mine is mesh, metal and permanent. It's partially covered which means most of its outside is coated in some kind of smooth material - but the edges are like "chicken wire" which allows the soft tissue to grow into it, hence making the stent "a part of me".
I'm lucky, I have TWO stents. The first one worked fine, for a while. Eventually I was regurgitating again and soon I could barely manage liquids. Tumour granulation (whatever that means) was blocking the way. So we put a second one in about 6cm above the junction. Now I have a long ass stent. Stent. Stent. Stent. I fucking hate that word.
Now there's a thing called the stent diet. I could put up pictures of stents and dietitian plans but you can easily google that shit. I'm here to tell you my experience. MY experience is that stents are a fucking pain in the ass.
There are many things you can't eat with a stent because they could get stuck and block the stent. Things like steak, chicken, grisly meats in general, doughy fresh bread - basically anything delicious like pizza. I'm not sure whether I can technically have rice or not - some dietitians say yes, some say no.
My dietitian / nutritionist? WHO KNOWS? I had one come see me in hospital when I had the first stent, and had another call me when I was having issues before the second one was placed (She even said people with stents don't usually have this much issue eating lol). Every time I've asked to see one since, she hasn't shown up. So I'm just playing the guessing game with my eating.
I'm super careful with what I eat. I chew thoroughly and I take tiny bites. The other day, I wasn't so careful and I had to cough up whole pieces of pork balls (well not the whole ball, just parts I'd chewed). The meat was just too tough to "fall through" the stent so it got stuck.
The problem with that is then more stuff wants to come up. Then an already inflamed esophagus (I was just coming off my chemo around this time) becomes more inflamed. It causes the "hole" to get smaller because soft tissue is getting all inflamed around the stent opening.
I hope that paints a clear picture of what it's like to eat with a stent. Like I said, it's a pain in the ass and you never know what's going to get stuck. It's not like we can look down our throat to see how big the pathway is, or where the stent sits inside the stomach (a LOT of it is sitting in the stomach because the first one was placed too low)
If you google anything about stents and eating with stents, it's all medical journals about stents and malignancy and other scary shit. My mum says that knowing too much is bad because then I worry too much. It's true but then I can't stop looking shit up because nobody is giving me answers!!
So yeah, now someone can stumble across this blog and go "Oh hey so this is what I can expect with a stent! Sounds like a nightmare!"
It's not SO bad. You can still have your favourite foods, you just have to modify it. Burgers are a no go but I can have a deconstructed burger - meat patties and lots of sauce. The sauce is key to stent eating. Mayonaise, ketchup, anything. Make sure your food is coated in it - it'll help it slide through the stent like a fat kid in a well lubricated water slide.
Today, I went out to a cafe and unfortunately their kitchen was closed. I immediately panicked because I knew they had pancakes and hash browns and other shit I could eat, so what was I gonna eat now? I looked in their cabinet of cafe food that was on offer with trepidation. I settled on a quiche - I could eat eggs as long as it's not fried or hard boiled.
I had to take out all the spinach, tomato and other stringy bits but I managed to eat bits of cheese, lots of egg and even some bacon bits! I really shouldn't have swallowed the bacon but FUCK IT. I lived!
Eating out is scary for me. I love pizza but the toppings and base are too risky so if we do Italian, I have to hope they have gnocchi or a simple pasta available. Sushi was something I tried at the wrong time - when my stent was starting to get blocked. So now I'm traumatised from that day of constant regurgitation. Reminded me too much of pre-diagnosis days when I had no idea why I was throwing up my precious sushi.
There's a lot of favourite foods I can't eat anymore - but dang if I won't try to somehow get them in me. It's just a matter of getting over a change of texture! You see, in case it hasn't become clear already... I fucking love food.
I fucking LOVEEEEEEEEEEEEE food.
Which is why getting gastric cancer and having my diet restricted due to tumours is the biggest cosmic fucking joke in the world. Please applaud the fates on their sense of dark humour.
We gather around food socially so much, we don't even realise it sometimes. Friends will ask to catch up with me over food or a drink, not thinking how difficult it can be for me on some days. Food is integral to our lives. It fuels us. You get up in the morning and think "What shall I eat today?" or you turn to your partner in the evening and ask "What do you want for dinner?"
Now the conversation is more like, "What can you eat today?" "Can you eat this?"
It's unsettling, upsetting and unfair. I hate it and I will always hate it, until the day I die. Unless they miraculously are able to cure me - then I'll be happy because I won't have fucking cancer! HOORAY!
But until then... RAGE. RAGE!!!!!!!
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