Abstract

I did not see this coming. I had to learn to make care food for my husband, Akio, who was diagnosed with floor of mouth cancer, with the severe symptom being his disability in chewing.
The first obstacle in making care food was I could not get recipes that I needed. And another thing was I strongly, firmly tried to make delicious liquid food that will stimulate appetite for Akio who loves to eat but can only eat liquid food due to his cancer. This task I gave myself turned out to be very challenging to me.
I was in my kitchen all day. It was a continuous process of trial and error. I was feeling like I am at the dead end, impatient, because making of care food for my husband did not go as I planned.

One day, a little but new idea came to my head, and with a little twist, I tried a new recipe. This experience lead to solve the problems I had before. Since then, I came up with many new recipe ideas that I wanted Akio to try. The delicious, new recipes for my family that brings smiles were on their way.

“Care food is a new genre in home cooking!” When I realized this, I did a victory pose in my kitchen.
Akio recovered and went back to work at his company again.
However, such happiness did not last long. He had a relapse of his cancer. The doctor told us he does not have much time left. He passed away in winter, at the age 55. He fought his cancer for 3 and a half years.

There must be so many people in this world who are having difficulties in making care food. Their troubles might be more than what I experienced. There must be so many people who can no longer eat what they like, or lost joy in eating due to their sickness, aging, and many other possible reasons. I wanted to make use of the care food recipes that I made when I was caring my husband Akio, praying that he gets better, hoping that the delicious food I made will make him smile. I went on to receive a qualification as an advisor for care food and have been active as the advisor since.

This is not a book that records struggles with disease nor does it describe the treatments and their effectiveness. Additionally, there should be many approaches in nursing because every patient, family and their surroundings are different. Therefore, this book is not about the way of how the nursing should be.
It is a diary of Akio who suddenly became incapable of eating normal food and had to fight his cancer, and me, who struggled in making care food for the first time in my life. Our story might be a hint to someone out there who are struggling in nursing, or others who may have to deal with nursing in the future. I pray this book will a help to them.

Author’s Information

---