Eatin' Up a Storm

There are many challenges in Care Giving, but our main challenge and constant battle with Mark's dad is eating.  He has gone from 145 lbs to 131 lbs in a year.  We struggle all the time with trying to get him to eat.  It is bad enough when we are here, but the few hours that he is by himself was really worrying us.

When it was time to go and see the doctor in September, I asked if he could give him something to help with his appetite.  He put him on megestrol.  It treats anorexic patients as well as uterine cancer.  I take the exact same thing for my cancer....this should explain a lot about myself.  When I started taking it, I was taking 24 pills a day...now I only take 1 and sometimes 2 a day.  My father in law is on 4 a day.  The pills have worked their magic.  I go to the grocery store about 3 times a week, because he is eating everything in the house.  Just this morning he had 2 eggs, 4 pieces of bacon, a sausage biscuit and a ham biscuit.  I love seeing him eat....it was such a struggle for so long to get food in him.  He does have his favorites:

Cheetos are one of his main junk foods he likes to eat.  He is averaging around 5 bags a week.  He tells me all the time, "Cheetos are my favorite."

Krispy Kreme are another staple of his junk food supply.  He eats 3 dozens of these every week.  He might eat more if I bought more. LOL

He is now game to go to lunch at anytime and eat anytime you say let's go and get a bite of something.  This one little simple pill has made our life so much easier in caring for him.  I feel better that he is eating so well now.  He has lots more energy and sometimes it seems as though the food has cleared the fog of dementia for a moment.  It has just amazed me at the turn around in his appetite, all due to a pill.