Trouble with hospital food - advice needed!

[Guest guest]

Ok, I know i've seen posts about similar issues before, so I'm looking

for some advice My partner is currently in the hospital for chemo and

will be for five days out of every month probably through January.

Even though her prognosis is very good (she had undifferentiated

sarcoma in the bone of her wrist, had it removed about a month ago

with clear margins and no metastises), we've both been trying to make

sure she eats as healthy as possible as she has six weeks of radiation

on top of the chemo. Very hard on the body, especially as both chemo

drugs she's on are particularily hard on blood counts and often result

in the patient needing transfusions at some point. When she is home,

she eats almost entirly whole foods, lots of fresh and cooked fruits

and veggies, beans, whole grains, very little dairy and sugars. At

the hospital, however, her options are all cheese and white bread

products and other things in various shades of brown. Seriously, her

only daily meal options are pizza, grilled cheese, mac and cheese, and

cream of tomato soup, occasionally cream of mushroom or potato. All

the vegetables offered are overcooked to the point where her

chemo-sensitive stomach can't handle even the look of them or are

other starchy options (mashed potato, rice, baked potato, fried

potato). They do offer a " green " salad, which is approximatly 1/2 a

cup of brownish dried out iceberg with one cherry tomato and one slice

of cucumber. All other salads they offer are iceberg with meat on top

and nothing else. She can get fresh fruit, but half the time it

doesn't come when she orders it. yesterday, she ordered tomato soup,

fresh grapes and a salad and they sent her a a packet of salad

dressing, the soup, and a piece of microwaved white bread in a plastic

bag (that was definatly the worse meal, but not by much).

 

I have no issue bringing her in food, but I can only bring enough

for a meal or two as I take the bus to the hospital and, although the

floor has a small fridge, there is limited space to store much. She

has complained to the dieticians multiple times, to all of the doctors

she has seen, and to the nursing staff. The doctors don't seem to

care (her regular oncologist, who is awesome, has been out of town for

the holiday), the nurses can't do much and the dieticians seem

confused as to why there is a problem. If this was the last time

she'd be hosptialized, this wouldn't be much of an issue, but she has

several more months of this. And she can't even go down to the

hospital cafeteria as she's hooked to an iv 24/7 and not allowed to

leave the oncology floor. I can't imagine what would happen if she

was vegan or kept kosher or anything more restrictive. We don't know

who else to complain to or what else to do about it. And, although on

this round, I've been able to be there every day with edible food,

that won't always be the case. Please, someone who has been there,

any advice would be greatly appreciated. Are there any special tricks

to get people to actually listen to you other than lying about food

allergies or whatever? Help!

 

~Rachael