Wednesday, April 15, 2009

A "chili" day

Summer wanted chili for breakfast, so I thawed out some meat and started cooking it first thing this morning. She came and asked me a few minutes ago if it was ready, so we both had a bowl. Well, she had two! She has been eating good the past week. Today she has had a jar of spaghetti, an apple and two bowls of chili. Oh yeah, we had a "chocolate" party this morning with different kinds of chocolate Easter bunnies. We used her tea set that one of my friends gave her (it is porcelain) and pretended to drink tea while we ate some of the bunnies. I opened a marshmallow filled bunny and she wanted the hollow one. Then we both tried the crispy bunnies. My bunnies were gone before hers (she is saving some of hers for later) which is no surprise to me. Chocolate is addicted to my mouth! Or is it the other way around? :p We saved a few to have another party with sometime. While I was explaining the different kinds of bunnies to her, I told her one was crunchy. She said, "Apples are crunchy too." She was eating one at the time, but it was impressive to see her correlating the crunchiness with the two different foods. I tell you she is one smart noodle! (which is NOT her nickname today...lol)

We had a little educational lesson this morning. She got a clock for Christmas which is digital. So, this morning I asked her what the numbers were on it and she told me. Then I said it in time words - "nine thirty eight." She told me there was a three in it and I told her that is where the thirty comes from. Then I explained it would be nine twenty eight if it were a 2. I'm not sure she really understands it completely, but it is a start. When I told her it was nine fifty, she said it was nine fifty zero. LOL We will keep working on this, but it is fun to see her learning a little each time.

We haven't really done much today besides play in her room and watch some cartoons. The first one she asked to watch today was Barney. She REALLY, REALLY LOVES Barney!! We got a few new DVDs from a friend a few days ago and she has watched them both several times. Now she is watching Word World while eating her 3rd bowl of chili. I am hoping the fiber in it will help her with her pooping problem. She has been constipated for a few days I think and BMs have not been easy. It is a side effect of one of the treatments she had. I'm not exactly sure which one, but I am hoping it will all get straightened out. I might need to get her some kind of fiber supplement, but not sure how I would get her to take it. It will probably be easier to get her to eat fibrous foods. I looked over the side effects of the next chemo meds this morning and noticed something a little frightening on most of them ( even some of the last meds). It says after treatment is done, the meds could cause other types of cancer including leukemia. So, the meds that are killing the cancer can also cause it????? I'm not going to focus on this since it happens in less than 5 out of 100 cases, but that really caught me off guard and even scared me a little. I am putting my faith in God though. He knows what will happen and worrying won't get me anywhere.

Well, I am going to try to enjoy our last day of freedom, assuming her counts are up tomorrow. If they are we will be in prison, I mean the hospital, until Monday or Tuesday. :) It really isn't as bad as prison, but it sure does feel like it when you are ready to leave. You just can't get out fast enough!

10 comments:

lmt1073 said...

So nice to see she is feeling better and eating... chili sounds good!! with fritos and cheese!!!

Stephanie @ dirtandlace.com said...

Chocolate is addicted to my mouth, too ;-)

I'm so happy to hear that she is eating well! Hopefully you're right about the fiber.

My girls LOVE Barney too. Every morning they beg to watch either Barney or Dora. They discovered Little Bear and Blue's Clues at my parents house last night, so it looks like they may start to add some variety to their favorites.

I hope your hospital stay goes well!

Molly said...

Etoposide (VP-16), if that's what she has, is the one that can cause leukemia. Our boy has that medicine as well. Fun stuff.

As for the constipation, that's from the Vincristine. Lucky us--he never had much of an issue with constipation from Vincristine. He just got nerve damage in his extremities. I think that he also avoided the constipation because while he was on Vincristine (which was on his first regimen, not this one), he was still breastfeeding.

Anyhow, it is GREAT to hear that she is eating! When her ANC is decent, grapes are good for moving things along. Although I guess raisins do the trick too and they can be eaten at anytime.

Go Summer!

Stephy said...

YAY glad she's eating!!
Glad my kids never liked Barney LOL I had to deal with it with my brother.

Stephy

Stephanie said...

Yum!!! Chili sounds great! Glad she's eating well and you guys had a good day. I'll be thinking of you all tomorrow and in the days to come :)

Musical Daddy said...

Don't you love that "medicine" - "We're going to put your cancer into remission, but - oops - here comes another really bad type in a few years." Talk about robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Tiffany said...

Chili for breakfast sounds so good to me! Try seeing if she'll eat some of the new Fiber One granola type bars...they're pretty good...the peanut butter ones espeically!

Bridgett said...

A chile breakfast sounds good to me! LOL

I'm so glad she's eating better again.

Neither of my kids have ever been into Barney, surprisingly. Autumn LOVES Olivia right now...and Parker is really into Tom and Jerry.

Anyway, I hope Summer's counts were back up today.

XOXO

Heather said...

Flax seed is good to help move things along. You can put it in her chili and she would never know.

Anonymous said...

Benefiber is a good fiber because you can mix it w/anything (even chili) and they don't taste it. You might want to check w/a dr. or nurse first just to make sure it is ok since she is having so many other treatments.