Monday, June 27, 2022

Monday, June 27, 2022

Tonight's picture was taken in June of 2006, at the Cardboard Boat Regatta at Lake Accotink Park in Springfield, VA. It was our first time at the regatta and Mattie loved it! Basically people design boats out of cardboard and there are competitions and races. Mattie wanted to do this with Peter in the future. Unfortunately that never happened. But it is thanks to Mattie that I got to experience fun adventures like this, because prior to having Mattie such an outing would never have dawned on me. 

Quote of the day: For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Well given Emerson's quote, I have given up A LOT of my peace of mind lately. I was jumping from one thing to another today. I thought when my dad was at the memory care center, I would have a moment to catch up! Forget it. Sunny's oncology office called me about four times this morning. One of the calls was to check to see if Sunny was eating, as he was having trouble eating on Thursday. 

Needless to say the nurse and I got into it on the phone. She intimated that Sunny isn't actually nauseous, but instead being manipulative and picky about eating. Implying that the problem was with me and NOT with the dog. It was like deja vu all over again. When Mattie completed 13 months of chemotherapy, he literally went on a hunger strike. I couldn't get him to eat anything. His doctor said to me that he was manipulating me and even suggested he was developing an eating disorder. None of that sat well with me, because I KNEW Mattie. Turns out I was correct, because six weeks off of chemotherapy, Mattie's cancer metastasized throughout his body. It wasn't being manipulative at all, it was about having extensive disease!!! So unfortunately this nurse today pushed all my buttons, as I heard these lines before. The only difference today was that it was suggested that I was being manipulated by my dog! Whether human or dog, I just won't stand for it! Like Mattie, I also know Sunny. 

If that wasn't bad enough, the nurse began to lecture me about nutrition. Another hot button of mine! I get it, what you eat can impact your health and also perhaps influence your recovery! Though that to me is more speculative than fact when it comes to cancer care! In any case, she argued with me, and wondered why I don't feed Sunny kibble! She questioned why I home cook his food. Mind you I have been doing this for years! This isn't new! I found Sunny gained 15 pounds on kibble, so a long time ago, I removed it from his diet.  

Sunny is now on a high protein diet. Mainly because Sunny seems more eager to eat meat rather than vegetables and grains right now. The nurse told me that Sunny's bouts of diarrhea may be the result of the imbalanced diet I am giving him. I would like to suggest that she come here and try to get chemotherapy, premeds, and food down Sunny's throat, and then we will talk. She set me off, and then tried to make the analogy that if I were sick, wouldn't I want to eat a balanced diet?! REALLY!!!

I corrected her, because we are talking about Sunny! If she wanted to talk to me about humans and cancer, then I think she and I would have a very different perspective on nutrition. All I know is when Mattie was undergoing chemotherapy, getting him to eat anything was close to impossible. So whatever he wanted to eat I deemed better than NOT eating at all. There are real physical consequences to treatment and it impacts taste, digestion, and the desire to eat. So no I don't believe in giving kids and parents a lecture on nutrition. Instead, I believe that parents make the best decisions possible to help support their children throughout the cancer journey, and therefore we have to pick our battles. Fighting over food should never be one of them. 

Honestly how we went from Sunny's care to human care, is over the top, and to me NOT helpful. Not helpful because instead I was reliving my journey with Mattie and unable to truly focus on Sunny! Any case, I spent the rest of the morning baking chicken for Sunny, cooking rice, potatoes, and carrots! 

That was only a few of the calls back and forth, then the last call was to tell me they lost Sunny's urine sample in transit. So they need another sample! These folks have no appreciation for what I balance in a given day. Their mistake causes more juggling in my schedule. 

Meanwhile, since Peter was flying back from Boston later today, I took my parents out to lunch to see Dawn (a server at the restaurant). Dawn is typically good stimulation for my dad, but this was my dad today! You can see, he was in a fog. When I got to the restaurant, I dropped my parents off in front of the door, while I went to park. By the time I got into the restaurant, I found my mom standing up at the table, and my dad keeling over. He had to go to the bathroom, and fortunately I arrived in time to get him up and to the bathroom. He doesn't want to go with my mom, as he tells me she has NO idea what to do. But I truly can't be away from either of them for more than five minutes, because havoc can ensue quickly. 

When Peter arrived home, he surprised me with this gift. His mom wanted me to have Peter's paternal grandmother's engagement ring. I have heard that Peter's grandmother and I were a lot alike. Needless to say, we have the same ring size and I think the setting is very vintage and Victorian, which is right up my alley! I am honored to have this piece of family history.