"Sometimes I Feel Like a Cow!"

That was what Brendan said to us today after being weighed every day this week and all the talk about if he is losing or gaining weight.  I guess if someone talked like that about me, I'd feel like a steer headed to the fair too!

On Saturday, while Brendan was getting his first dose of chemo, one of the oncologist physicians mentioned that he had heard that some parents skip meals while staying at the hospital.  He asked me, "Is that true?"  

I just wanted to laugh!  "Of course that's true!  It happens a lot."  We talked about meal options for parents and how hard it is to send an untouched kids meal to the garbage when you haven't eaten anything all day.  (The kids meals are often checked and calories counted so parents are asked not to eat from their child's plates.)

Then my sister asked me what I do for meals when I'm at the hospital with Brendan.  Well, it depends.  The easy answer is:  I run down to the cafeteria and grab a bite to eat.

 But it adds up, and it's no fun eating alone, so I only do that when I'm really, really hungry and there are no other options.

 I often check the board at the Ronald McDonald Family Room to see if a free, homestyle meal is being served there that day to families of patients.

 Hmmm, nothing today.

 Most mornings I grab a muffin and piece of fruit from the hospitality cart that goes around to each of the hospital units.  But you have to be paying attention because they are only at the nurses station for 5 minutes before moving on.  The hospitality cart is a lifesaver most mornings from a  rumbly tummy.

The other option is a bag of snacks I keep in the room.  Granola bars, nuts, and dried fruit help in a pinch.  Then, on super great days, like Monday, someone like Jack & ShaMayne offer to come visit and bring something to eat.  Yes!  With Brendan in PICU that day I'd missed the hospitality cart, hadn't been able to leave Brendan for lunch, and that Teriyaki Rice Bowl tided me over for dinner as well -- (since we can't take food into the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.)  It was warm and wonderful and good company as well!

 When Brendan woke up this morning his sodium counts were up to 136!  It was time to talk about going home.

 Before Brendan could be discharged he had to go without fluids all morning and still hold his sodium levels.  All feeding tube "feeds" and maintenance solutions were stopped and it was just a waiting game.  So Brendan did some math. . .

 . . .and took his daily shower. . .and brushed his teeth. . . and got out of bed for awhile -- just like he's supposed to do.

 It was looking like a great day to get out of the hospital!

 One last sodium check was done at noon, then it was time to de-access his port and sign the discharge papers.

 Brendan always prefers taking the tape off himself.

 Oh, but one more thing.  Brendan's NG (nasogastric) feeding tube needed to be replaced.  (Immunocompromised kids need them replaced each month.)  So we headed to Fluoroscopy -- real time x-ray in order to get his new tube inserted without damage to his sinus area.

 Brendan had only had his NG tube placed using a scope in his nose with the ENT resident.  So he was a little nervous about this new procedure.

 But it was pretty sweet!  Watching the tube slide right through his nose and down his throat (at just the right moment he was told to swallow.) It was amazing.  And we watched it all on the screen as they took a series of x-rays while it was being inserted.  In a matter of a minute we could see the end resting perfectly positioned in the middle of his stomach.

 With the new NG tube placed, and the prescription sodium solution picked up from pharmacy, it was finally time to head home!

 Whew!  Another round of chemo done!  Time to rest up and prepare for the next chemo in a couple of weeks.  It's nice to know that we won't have to deal with cisplatin again, but now we will have to find out the challenges of a different chemo drug.  We'll be watching blood counts go down and back up again in the next two weeks.  But for tonight, we're just glad to be home and sleeping in our own beds again!