Childhood Cancer
Chapter 24: Nutrition
NOW, MORE THAN EVER, it is important for your sick child to eat balanced, healthful, and energy-packed meals. Yet the reality is that the eating habits of children with solid tumors often go haywire. Although your child’s body needs added energy to metabolize medications and repair the damage to healthy cells caused by chemotherapy and radiation, those same treatments can wreak havoc on your child’s appetite and taste sensations. This chapter discusses eating problems, explains good nutrition, suggests ways to pack extra calories into small servings, and offers tips about how to make food more appealing to children undergoing treatment.
Table of Contents
All Guides- Introduction
- 1. Diagnosis
- 2. Bone Sarcomas
- 3. Liver Cancers
- 4. Neuroblastoma
- 5. Retinoblastoma
- 6. Soft Tissue Sarcomas
- 7. Kidney Tumors
- 8. Telling Your Child and Others
- 9. Choosing a Treatment
- 10. Coping with Procedures
- 11. Forming a Partnership with the Medical Team
- 12. Hospitalization
- 13. Venous Catheters
- 14. Surgery
- 15. Chemotherapy
- 16. Common Side Effects of Treatment
- 17. Radiation Therapy
- 18. Stem Cell Transplantation
- 19. Siblings
- 20. Family and Friends
- 21. Communication and Behavior
- 22. School
- 23. Sources of Support
- 24. Nutrition
- 25. Medical and Financial Record-keeping
- 26. End of Treatment and Beyond
- 27. Recurrence
- 28. Death and Bereavement
- Appendix A. Blood Tests and What They Mean
- Appendix B. Resource Organizations
- Appendix C. Books, Websites, and Support Groups