In less than 12 hours Anna finished 16 oz. of cottage cheese - with extra salt. She then proceeded to eat all day as long as we kept up on her pain meds (no pain meds and her jaw hurts too badly to eat. :( ) Tonight she requested grilled cheese and tomato soup. She promptly polished it off. She then requested pizza, which she doesn't really like, and bacon, of which she is moderately fond. She ate two slices of pizza with bacon on top. Guessing that is the steroid diet kicking in - eat and eat and eat. They told us she will crave starchy, salty, fatty. I think the grilled cheese and the pizza both fit that description. She again asked for broccoli. Silly kid - I offer her cookies, candy, crackers, yogurt, cereal...anything she wants to get her to eat - she asks for broccoli. At the hospital she wanted broccoli, corn and green beans. What a good girl. :)
Again, I know I repeat myself over and over and over again and it is redundant, and repetitive, but truly - we are so fully blessed and so incredibly thankful and we have no words to express our gratitude. We had a great dinner and conversation from/with friends (Love You!)
Staying home today was nice - Anna needed a lot of care and attention of course, meds are getting easier. I could spend some one on one with Ella plus I could do laundry! It is all currently piled in a mountain on the playroom couch but at least it is a clean mountain. Sam did a great job while we were in the hospital of taking care of he and Ella daily and making sure we all had clean clothes and whatever else I needed to stay with Anna and be comfortable, today was a chance to do a little catch-up. Phew!
We also had wonderful response to the question of photographer; thoroughly amazed at what a couple of hours can accomplish - Thank You Ladies!
I'm thinking of tipping Anna some extra oxycodone so that we'll all get to sleep before 2 am (Just Kidding!). Last night she was up until two, up at five asking for cottage cheese. Sam, of course, went to the grocery store - twice for her last night/this morning. Once for spaghetti o's and once for cottage cheese.
Melissa (1/2 of Ella's Godparents and coordinator extraordinare) says Anna is just like a little pregnant woman - she is totally right :) She is cranky and hormonal, has mood swings, food cravings and is growing a little round belly. The belly is a known side-effect of the prednisone, as are the cranky, the mood swings and the non-stop eating.
Tomorrow is Day8! Big day. We have everything settled, I think. Drop Ella off early and head to Seattle. Ella is being picked up after school, two booster seats ready for two rides.
Blood work at 8:40
Dr. at 9:45 (hopefully with test results)
Biopsy and spinal chemo at 10:45 so they only have to do one round of anesthesia.
IV chemo when she recovers from anesthesia. The chemo will take a while to push and then we wait an hour or so to watch for reactions to the chemo. Also, if she has to get blood or platelets before the surgery, everything will be pushed back until later in the day. No eating for Anna after 4:30 this morning - I'm not going to lie, I'm a little scared about that. She is going to be TICKED OFF.
Prayers for us tomorrow - tomorrow is the day that determines the next phase of Anna's treatment - we are hoping for great news!
1 comment:
Hugs! My heart strings have been pulled and I keep feeling the tug. I can only imagine everything you are going through. As I sit and read all the wonderful updates you are sharing I sit and cry for you. I cry as a Mother and a friend. I wish there was some way to ease your pain and sadness. I wish there was something or anything we could do for Anna.
I was just at the computer sending out an email reminder to the Moms club about upcoming service projects that we are considering doing over the next 3 months. I had wanted to check with you to see if there is anything that we might be able to do for your family, Anna, the cancer facility that Anna is receiving care at. If there is anything, anything at all that we could possible do please let me know. I know several members have been touched by you and your family and would love to help. There are many ways that we can help as a club as well as many ways we can group as individuals.
Miss you friend,
Kelli
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