Mum has been diagnosed with mouth cancer- how best to support her?

[poshsinglemum]

She has to have a nasty operation whereby they remov ethe tumour, do radiotherapy, take blood vessels out of her wrists and use it to rebuild her tongue. She has to have a trachioctopy and her teeth out to. I'm devastated. Mum is quite a fragile being and has bipolar so this is all she needs.

I thought she was being a hyperchondraic but actually has cancer. It hurts her to eat so I'm going to start making a lot of smothies and juices for her with healthy ingredients.

So sorry to hear this, a friend of mine had mouth cancer; lost bottom teeth, think tongue was intact.
Lived to tell the tale.
Worked as dj (started out on Radio Caroline) & despite despair he would not, he did return to broadcasting.
Best wishes for your mum.

Re : Support
I was there at the end of a phone each day, at least, for my stepdad when diagnosed terminal with a different cancer.
Just be there as much as you can.
It is very hard.

Thanks all. I definately think that healthy foods, love and hugs will help her. It's just terrifing. I need to loose wieght so I am going to get juicing. Just bought spirulina. It may not cure cancer but will help rejuvinate her and keep her well.

Food made with love, and realising her nutritional needs are going to be very different during her treatment will be great. She'll need very high calorie foods which are pureed/very soft, not acidic, and whatever tempts her to eat - remember that she'll lose most of her sense of taste. Lots of milkshakes made with full fat milk, icecream and fruit will be great, and soups (but be v careful with temperature) made with cream and potato to build her up before surgery and keep her weight up after. Meals little and often are the way to go

Be careful on herbs etc - some can interfere or react with chemo and radiotherapy

The surgery sounds awful, but when it's all done, she will look normal to everyone else - the reconstructions are amazing, and they usually put in dental implants to give people new teeth afterwards

Um ,don't know how much help but my brother has just had tumour removed from tongue .
He found one of worst things after op was ulcers in throat .
Someone on MN advised mixing dispersible aspirin or paracetomol with tiny bit of water and swallowing just before any attempt to eat .
My brother also found out rather randomly from GP that he could prescribe some kind of liquid morphine ( it may have been mixed with parecetomol ,sorry not be exact ) which helped post op .
My sil is cooking stuff like haddock chowder ,ravoli ,stewed fruit ,semolina .
All luck ,keep strong and be guided by what your mum wants to do - cry ,head in the sand ,whatever .