Skip to main content
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Donate opens in new window
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
Hoag
  • Specialties & Services
    Our institutes

    Hoag Family Cancer Institute

    View Institute
    • Find Your Cancer Type
      • View All Cancers Treated
      • Bladder Cancer
      • Brain Tumor
      • Breast Cancer
      • Colorectal Cancer
      • Endocrine Tumors
      • Gynecologic Cancer
      • Head & Neck Cancer
      • Lung Cancer
      • Pancreatic Cancer
      • Prostate Cancer
      • Renal (Kidney) Cancer
      • Skin Cancer/Melanoma
    • Treatments & Services
      • Applied Genomics
      • Cancer Trials
      • Cell Therapy
      • da Vinci® Robotic Surgery
      • Gamma Knife
      • Genetic Counseling
      • High Risk
      • Infusion Services
      • Molecular Imaging
      • Radiation Oncology

    Hoag Digestive Health Institute

    View Institute
    • Programs
      • Advanced Endoscopy
      • Bariatric Surgery Weight Loss
      • Colorectal
      • Foregut (Esophagus & Stomach)
      • Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)
      • Liver
      • Midgut (Pancreas, Biliary & Gallbladder)
      • Motility

    Jeffrey M. Carlton Heart & Vascular Institute

    View Institute
    • Programs
      • Aortic Program
      • Coronary Artery Disease Program
      • General Cardiovascular Health
      • Heart Failure Program
      • Heart Rhythm Program
      • Heart Valve Program
      • Marfan Syndrome Clinic
      • Vascular Program
    • Treatment & Services
      • Aortic Disease Treatment & Management
      • Cardiac Arrhythmia Treatment & Management
      • Cardiac Rehabilitation
      • Coronary Artery Disease Treatment & Management
      • Heart Failure Treatment & Management
      • Heart Valve Disease Treatment & Management
      • Vascular Disease Treatment & Management

    Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute

    View Institute
    • Programs
      • Acute Rehabilitation
      • Addiction Medicine
      • ASPIRE (Teen Mental Health, 13-18)
      • Brain Tumor
      • Chronic Pain & Neuropathy
      • Concussion
      • Epilepsy
      • Headache
      • Memory & Cognitive Disorders
      • Multiple Sclerosis & Neuroimmunology
      • Parkinson’s & Movement Disorders
      • Skull Base & Pituitary Tumor
      • Sleep Health
      • Stroke
      • Young Adult Mental Health (18-26)
    • Diagnostics & Treatment
      • Epilepsy Monitoring Unit
      • Gamma Knife
      • Interventional Neuroradiology
      • MRI / 3T / CT
      • EEG/EMG (Neurophysiology)
      • Neuroradiology
      • Neuro Rehabilitation
      • PET / CT
      • Tomotherapy

    Hoag Orthopedic Institute

    View Institute
    • Programs
      • Elbow
      • Foot & Ankle
      • Hand & Wrist
      • Hip
      • Knee
      • Shoulder
      • Spine
      • Trauma
    • Services
      • Sports Medicine
      • Physical Therapy
      • Diagnostics
      • Sarcoma
      • Travel Program
      • International Patients

    Hoag Spine Institute

    View Institute
    • Conditions
      • Chronic Neck or Back Pain
      • Degenerative Disc Disease (DDD)
      • Herniated Disc/Lumbar Disc Disease
      • Kyphosis
      • Lower Back Pain
      • Myelopathy
      • Neck Pain (Cervical Pain)
      • Nerve Compression
      • Osteoporosis
      • Osteoarthritis
      • Radiculopathy (Pinched Nerve)
      • Scoliosis
      • Sciatica
      • Spinal Deformity
      • Spinal Tumors
      • Spinal Stenosis
      • Spinal Fractures
      • Spondylolisthesis
      • Tailbone Pain
      • Whiplash

    Hoag Women’s Health Institute

    View Institute
    • Breast Health
      • Meet the Team
      • Locations
      • Imaging
      • Diagnosis
      • Surgery
      • Chemotherapy
      • Radiation Therapy
      • High Risk
    • Gynecologic Health
      • Gynecologic Cancer Program
      • Gynecologic & Pelvic Health
      • Pelvic Health
    • Maternal Child Health
      • Pregnancy
      • Prenatal Classes / OB Education
      • Pre-Registration
      • Virtual Maternity Tour
      • NICU
      • Support Services
      • Mental Health
    • Wellness & Prevention
      • Hoag for Her Center for Wellness
      • Integrated Services
      • Meet Our Team
      • Classes

    Other Programs & Services

    View All
    • Acute Rehabilitation
    • Addiction Medicine
    • Breast Program
    • Care Coordination
    • Clinical Research
    • Concierge Medicine
    • Mary & Dick Allen Diabetes Center
    • End of Life Care
    • Executive Health
    • Functional Medicine
    • Hoag At Home
    • Hoag Endoscopy Center
    • Hoag Genetic Counseling
    • Hoag Prime
    • Melinda Hoag Smith Center for Healthy Living
    • Mental Health Services
    • Nurse Navigator
    • Occupational Therapy
    • Outpatient Lab
    • Outpatient Rehabilitation Services
    • Palliative Care
    • Pelvic Health
    • Physical Therapy
    • Pregnancy & Infant Loss
    • Radiology & Imaging Services
    • Respiratory Care
    • Robotics
    • Sleep Health
    • Smoking Cessation
    • Speech Therapy
    • Spine Institute
    • Spiritual Care
    • Sports Medicine
    • Thyroid

    Specialties & Services

    Hoag is the highest ranked hospital in Orange County. Learn more about our top rated Institutes and services in Southern California.

    View all Specialties & Services

    View All
    • Find Your Cancer Type
      • View All Cancers Treated
      • Bladder Cancer
      • Brain Tumor
      • Breast Cancer
      • Colorectal Cancer
      • Endocrine Tumors
      • Gynecologic Cancer
      • Head & Neck Cancer
      • Lung Cancer
      • Pancreatic Cancer
      • Prostate Cancer
      • Renal (Kidney) Cancer
      • Skin Cancer/Melanoma
    • Treatments & Services
      • Applied Genomics
      • Cancer Trials
      • Cell Therapy
      • da Vinci® Robotic Surgery
      • Gamma Knife
      • Genetic Counseling
      • High Risk
      • Infusion Services
      • Molecular Imaging
      • Radiation Oncology

    View All
    • Programs
      • Advanced Endoscopy
      • Bariatric Surgery Weight Loss
      • Colorectal
      • Foregut (Esophagus & Stomach)
      • Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)
      • Liver
      • Midgut (Pancreas, Biliary & Gallbladder)
      • Motility

    View All
    • Programs
      • Aortic Program
      • Coronary Artery Disease Program
      • General Cardiovascular Health
      • Heart Failure Program
      • Heart Rhythm Program
      • Heart Valve Program
      • Marfan Syndrome Clinic
      • Vascular Program
    • Treatment & Services
      • Aortic Disease Treatment & Management
      • Cardiac Arrhythmia Treatment & Management
      • Cardiac Rehabilitation
      • Coronary Artery Disease Treatment & Management
      • Heart Failure Treatment & Management
      • Heart Valve Disease Treatment & Management
      • Vascular Disease Treatment & Management

    View All
    • Programs
      • Acute Rehabilitation
      • Addiction Medicine
      • ASPIRE (Teen Mental Health, 13-18)
      • Brain Tumor
      • Chronic Pain & Neuropathy
      • Concussion
      • Epilepsy
      • Headache
      • Memory & Cognitive Disorders
      • Multiple Sclerosis & Neuroimmunology
      • Parkinson’s & Movement Disorders
      • Skull Base & Pituitary Tumor
      • Sleep Health
      • Stroke
      • Young Adult Mental Health (18-26)
    • Diagnostics & Treatment
      • Epilepsy Monitoring Unit
      • Gamma Knife
      • Interventional Neuroradiology
      • MRI / 3T / CT
      • EEG/EMG (Neurophysiology)
      • Neuroradiology
      • Neuro Rehabilitation
      • PET / CT
      • Tomotherapy

    View All
    • Programs
      • Elbow
      • Foot & Ankle
      • Hand & Wrist
      • Hip
      • Knee
      • Shoulder
      • Spine
      • Trauma
    • Services
      • Sports Medicine
      • Physical Therapy
      • Diagnostics
      • Sarcoma
      • Travel Program
      • International Patients

    View All
    • Conditions
      • Chronic Neck or Back Pain
      • Degenerative Disc Disease (DDD)
      • Herniated Disc/Lumbar Disc Disease
      • Kyphosis
      • Lower Back Pain
      • Myelopathy
      • Neck Pain (Cervical Pain)
      • Nerve Compression
      • Osteoporosis
      • Osteoarthritis
      • Radiculopathy (Pinched Nerve)
      • Scoliosis
      • Sciatica
      • Spinal Deformity
      • Spinal Tumors
      • Spinal Stenosis
      • Spinal Fractures
      • Spondylolisthesis
      • Tailbone Pain
      • Whiplash

    View All
    • Breast Health
      • Meet the Team
      • Locations
      • Imaging
      • Diagnosis
      • Surgery
      • Chemotherapy
      • Radiation Therapy
      • High Risk
    • Gynecologic Health
      • Gynecologic Cancer Program
      • Gynecologic & Pelvic Health
      • Pelvic Health
    • Maternal Child Health
      • Pregnancy
      • Prenatal Classes / OB Education
      • Pre-Registration
      • Virtual Maternity Tour
      • NICU
      • Support Services
      • Mental Health
    • Wellness & Prevention
      • Hoag for Her Center for Wellness
      • Integrated Services
      • Meet Our Team
      • Classes

    View All
    • Acute Rehabilitation
    • Addiction Medicine
    • Breast Program
    • Care Coordination
    • Clinical Research
    • Concierge Medicine
    • Mary & Dick Allen Diabetes Center
    • End of Life Care
    • Executive Health
    • Functional Medicine
    • Hoag At Home
    • Hoag Endoscopy Center
    • Hoag Genetic Counseling
    • Hoag Prime
    • Melinda Hoag Smith Center for Healthy Living
    • Mental Health Services
    • Nurse Navigator
    • Occupational Therapy
    • Outpatient Lab
    • Outpatient Rehabilitation Services
    • Palliative Care
    • Pelvic Health
    • Physical Therapy
    • Pregnancy & Infant Loss
    • Radiology & Imaging Services
    • Respiratory Care
    • Robotics
    • Sleep Health
    • Smoking Cessation
    • Speech Therapy
    • Spine Institute
    • Spiritual Care
    • Sports Medicine
    • Thyroid
  • Find a Doctor
  • Locations
  • Patients & Visitors
  • Resources
    • Education
      • Classes
      • Empowered by Hoag Blog
      • Podcasts
      • Corporate Wellness
      • Volunteer
    • Resources
      • Advance Care Planning
      • Seniors / Medicare
      • Support Groups
      • For Medical Professionals
      • Health Risk Assessments
      • Clinical Research
      • For Brokers, Agents & Employers
    • Innovation at Hoag
      • Hoag Compass
      • Virtual Reality Program
  • About Hoag
    • Hoag Health Network
      • About Us
      • Leadership
      • Awards
      • Corporate Information
      • Community Benefit
      • Nursing
      • Graduate Medical Education
      • Culture of Excellence
    • News & Publications
      • Empowered by Hoag Blog
      • News
      • Hoag for Life
      • Hoag In Your Community
      • Press Room

  • Pay Your Bill
  • Donate opens in new window
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
Hoag

Search Suggestions

  • Find a doctor
  • Covid19
  • Visiting Hours
Header

Filter Stories By



OR

Oral Cancer Survivor Creates Food Guide to Give Others Hope

February 21, 2020

Ed Topalian will be the first to tell you that he’s not a writer. He’s a contractor with a successful stair company in Santa Ana, CA. But he is also an oral cancer survivor at Hoag Hospital and a compassionate man. His experience and empathy compelled him to put ink to paper to help others with the complicated and excruciating process of eating during the six months following chemotherapy and radiation.

What follows here is a compilation of survival wisdom culled from Ed’s personal culinary trial and error. You’ll not only learn when he reintroduced potato chips to his diet, but also what brands he avoided. You’ll also read about how he modified coffee to keep his heartburn at bay.

More importantly, you’ll get a glimpse of a successful survival story, and maybe you’ll get a sense of hope.

“I remember laying on the sofa in the middle of the two-month treatment,” he said. “I was miserable, but I told my wife, ‘I hope we can do something to help other people, so they don’t feel the way I feel now.’”

Ed wrote the first version of this guide after a firefighter he knew was diagnosed with oral cancer and started asking for food advice. Ed had the typed-out guide in his briefcase when his wife, Rebecca, was admitted to Hoag to undergo a lung biopsy. A social worker visited Rebecca’s room, and after talking for a while, Ed told her about the guide.

“I reached into my briefcase and handed it to her,” he said. “She said, ‘Are you kidding me? This is incredible.’”

Ed was asked to help found an oral cancer support group at Hoag, and he dutifully printed and distributed his guide to anyone who wanted one. Soon, doctors began requesting copies, as did oncology nurses. He started fielding calls from far and wide, as his guide was re-copied and shared all over the world.

A few times, new members of the Hoag Oral Cancer Support Group would walk in with a copy in their hands. When they learned that the guide’s writer was in the room, their eyes would light up. And Ed’s eyes would tear.

“To have people hold up the food guide and tell me, ‘This gives me hope,’ it makes me want to cry right there,” he said. “I started to realize how much weight the information carried.”

Six years after Ed beat oral cancer, Rebecca Topalian succumbed to pulmonary fibrosis. Ed views this guide as a kind of tribute to her. Now in its fourth edition, “The Next Six Months” has been published by Hoag to help as many people as possible.

“I am grateful to share my food recovery journey,” he said. “The effect of talking with people who have said this guide has given them hope, it’s one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.”

Tags: Story,Cancer,Nutrition

What's Trending

Postpartum Bleeding Red Flags You Shouldn't Ignore
June 24, 2019
What Happens to Relationships When Sex Hurts
November 7, 2019
How A Mediterranean Diet Can Make You(r Brain) Look 19 Years Younger
May 3, 2023

Recently Written

GERD and Weight Gain: Understanding the Connection
May 23, 2025
Relief from GERD: Exploring Surgical & Endoscopic Treatment Options
May 23, 2025
What’s Behind Your GERD? Understanding the Causes and How to Find Answers
May 23, 2025
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

May 14, 2025
Ask the Doctor: Spring Allergies
May 13, 2025
Skin Cancer Prevention: Answers to 3 Common Questions
Hoag CFO Andrew Guarni Recognized as 2025 CFO of the Year
May 9, 2025
Marilyn Larsen Named Hoag’s 2025 Nurse of the Year
Hoag Empowers New Mom to Advocate for Her Baby–And for Others
The Heart of Healing: Celebrating Hoag’s Moms
May 8, 2025
Women Deserve to Prioritize Their Health — Without Guilt
April 30, 2025
Hoag’s Commitment to Innovation Creates New Paths for Parkinson’s Treatment

Sign up for our Newsletter

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Hoag

Need to ask a question?
Contact Us

Quick Links

  • COVID-19 Resources
  • Appointments
  • Find a Doctor
  • Locations
  • Federal Transparency in Coverage Rule
  • Price Transparency
  • CMS Open Payments Notice
  • Donate
  • Online Bill Payment
  • Hoag Connect MyChart

Patients & Visitors

  • Infection Prevention
  • Health Insurance
  • Patient & Visitor Info

About Hoag

  • About Us
  • Awards & Accreditations
  • News
  • Community Benefit
  • Hoag Orthopedic Institute
  • Hoag Medical Group
  • Careers
  • Legal

Education & Resources

  • Classes
  • Corporate Wellness
  • Support Groups
  • Volunteer
  • Clinical Research
  • For Medical Professionals
  • Brokers, Agents & Employers

© 2025 Hoag, All Rights Reserved.

Legal

×

Booking a DEXA appointment with Hoag requires a doctor's order

If you don’t have a copy of your doctor's order at the time of the appointment, your appointment might have to be rescheduled or cancelled.

Important

  • You should not have had any nuclear medicine, barium, or iodine studies 10 days before your DEXA scan.
  • The appointments shown below for DEXA scans are for the purpose of measuring bone density. For DEXA scans for body fat analysis, please use the numbers below to schedule an appointment:
    • Newport Imaging Center (Hoag Affiliated Partner): 949-721-8191
    • Tustin Imaging Center (Hoag Affiliated Partner): 714-477-8340
OR