My son who is 29 got a broken jaw (long story - how doesn't really matter) - anyway - he had surgery, and they had to put in a plate to fix it, and wire his jaw shut. He is on a strictly liquid diet. As in, not even milkshakes, LIQUID only. I'm caring for him at my house, he is not married. He is 6'2" and weighs about 155. He can't afford to lose much weight. I got him ensure (boost), carnation instant breakfast, liguid yogurt, beef and chicken broth, and jello to drink prior to setting. Any other ideas? His pain meds and anti-biotics are all liquid too. He has a mouth rinse to try to maintain some semblance of oral hygene.
Also, on the practical side, I've stocked him up on pens and notebooks. He can't talk, so has to write everything. He also has to sleep semi-sitting.
If anyone has had experience, I would love to hear what to expect, and what advice you would have.
Thank you all for your suggestions and the links! I'll look into them. And yes, the hospital did give him a handout about liquid diets, but I've not had time to peruse it.
OH, how sad :(
For extra fat, he could drink some half & half or heavy cream or even just Vit D milk instead of reg milk!!!
and those V 8 fushion drinks taste good and supposedly have veggies in them too.
My husband had his shut when he was a teenager. He says that you can liquify almost anything! He says thinned out chili was his favorite.
My second oldest neice got her jaw broke about 3 years ago. By the end of the first week she was simply starving to death and couldn't really take the liquid diet they were suggesting.
She came over to my house to continue to recover. I decided she would have almost everything we were eating for dinner. I bought some beef or chicken broth. Whatever was cooked for dinner would get thrown into a blender with the broth and she then could eat that. I seriously liquidfied everything for her taste. It worked like a charm. She actually ended up gaining weight which had the doctor stumped. Her favorite was spaghetti and all the veggies were just delicious. In time she could have more as the healing went on. It was an adventure.
I wish him fast healing.
You need to make sure he is getting some substance. The ensure and carnation breakfast are good with that, but the beef and chicken broth are mostly just liquid sodium. These two articles have excellent advice. He can do smoothies, so long as they are thin enough to go through a straw. You can juice a lot of fruits and veggies together too, protein shakes, you can even blend in meats, the cookbook has lots of recipes... Both of my parents had to be on pure liquid diets for health issues, my mom had her jaw wired shut and my dad had bone cancer in his face.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/248033-liquid-diet-for-...
http://www.oralfacialsurgeons.com/surgical_instructions/j...
My cousin's daughter had this done--car accident.
At first, only REALLY thin things, but she was able to work up to smoothies, shakes, etc. Actually, my cousin eventually put any/all food from their meals into a blender & made it thin...gross but nutritional. Especially beef gravy & mashed potatoes--very thin.
Hope he's over this soon.
Here's a resource they found helpful:
http://www.livestrong.com/jaw-wired-shut/
I got hit in the jaw by my son with a golf club. Wasn't his fault, he was little and learning to golf. I didn't tell him to wait and thought I was out of the way. Anyhooo, Lord did that hurt. Jaw wasn't wired shut but I couldn't use it. I was able to have milkshakes and such. My husband made mash potatoes and they were really liquified. I think what you are doing is about all you can. I'm sorry and I hope he gets better soon. Big babies are sometimes worse than little babies!! :)
Try a nutrition store (like GNC) or a local gym. They should have a variety of supplements, especially those designed for muscle/weight gain. I would think that his surgeon would have given you some suggestions as well.
R., I have a brand new juicer that you can have.
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C.
I think milkshakes would be fine if made with lots of milk and well blended. You could even let it warm up a little to become thinner. It doesn't have to be thick.
The beef and chicken broth sound good for a non-sweet option. He's going to want something salty after a while to balance the sweet.
And I'd try some of those green smoothie/juice drinks. Or maybe even V-8.
My youngest brother broke his jaw and had it wired shut in college. He's a little nuts, but he ate all sorts of stuff. It grossed us out, but he got so tired of drinking soup and broth type stuff that he would put about anything in a blender. He would do spaghetti or pizza and just add a lot of tomato sauce or water to thin it down. He would puree about anything actually, and just pick a liquid that went with it to thin it. He did have to make sure that it was thin enough so as to not get chunks of food stuck between the wires, but he managed. He actually got a very large syringe and would squirt the food into his cheeks so he didn't have to use a straw. I would double check or confirm the definition of "liquid only" because my understanding is they just want everything in liquid form so I don't see why he couldn't slowly branch out with other options like soup as long as they were thinned out. My brother still lost a lot of weight though, I think it's just difficult to get enough calories and you don't do all the snacking and munching you normally would if you were able to chew.
I work with a great Nutritional Food Supplement Company, the products have helped many with issues such as your son to get all the nutrients his body needs to repair and heal.
Let me know if you would like to know more and I will be happy to share more details.
With all my best wishes for quich healing.
you could invest in a juicer
As he heals, he'll be able to drink thicker things. When my jaw was wired shut, I was really craving things that were savory. Vanilla, chocolate and strawberry shakes lose their novelty in a couple of days.
I really appreciated cream soups, but they had to be blended and then strained. Little bits of broccoli getting stuck in my wires was not pleasant, so make sure you have a really fine mesh strainer and even use cheesecloth if you have to. Another treat was BBQ sauce. If I was out with friends and they stopped for fast food, I would get some BBQ sauce packets and a straw and suck it up that way. Pureed, very thin mashed potatoes and squash were also a nice change.
I was wired shut after breaking my jaw in a car accident. Starting At 5-3, 115 pounds, I ended up at 90. Because I had a plate/gasket between my wired jaws so everything had to be nearly water thin to consume. I basically lived on Carnation instant breakfast only able to down 1 glass a day. It was hard to consume enough calories to be very active or stay awake for long.
I started with a steno pad but eventually invested in a small dry erase board as no discernable words could be uttered or understood.
That was 19 years ago - and there have been times I would welcome the weight loss;-). I've since had 3 kids and maintain a very active life.
The results were fantastic with no problems at all. It takes a few day, maybe a week to adjust but it's doable. He'll need to rest & sleep and it takes a few days to regain chewing skills once wires are removed. Be prepared for soft foods.
My husband had to wire his shut too , it's awful. It sounds as if you are doing all you can. My husband was 30 at the time and he lost 50 lbs he didn't need to lose.
My husbands recovering from radiation for tonsil cancer and has only been able to have liquids for a month. I've been using Carnation instant breakfast VHC ( stands for very high calorie). They have 560 calories There's also something called benecalories in a 1 oz liquid and beneprotien powder packets you can add to liquids to increase protien and calories. I found all of these online at Amazon.com. I puree bananas and peanut butter into chocolate ensure and strawberries into vanilla ensure. You can also add powdered milk for more protien and hershey's syrup for more calories.
