Three Long Days
I had a quick meeting with Dr. Chen at University after Ben’s radiation treatment on Tuesday. He’s really pleased with Ben’s strength after the radiation and believes that Ben will get stronger as he ends the decadron. He also confirmed that our last treatment will be on Oct. 18th. I was as giddy as a schoolgirl to be able to count the remaining days on one hand.
Ben had a good appointment with Dr. Foreman on Wednesday and is dropping down to 4 mg of decadron per day and will drop down to 2 mg daily starting on Monday. He stressed again that Ben will begin having a little more energy and be in a much better mood once he’s off the steroid. We’ve already seen a few improvements and had Ben giggling at the idea of going out to a pancake breakfast on his way to the doctors. I can’t remember the last time he giggled before that, but guarantee that I will never forget that one.
We took advantage of a two hour break between appointments to visit the aquarium. It might have been a bit too much activity for Ben, but Madie had a great time. She loves getting to pet the horse-shoe crabs and manta rays and didn’t seem to mind our whirl-wind tour too much.
We spent Wednesday night at my mom’s since Melinda and I had 8 AM appointments the next day with our psychiatrist. Melinda took advantage of a neighbors offer of a massage and took a bath in Mom’s oversized tub. I took advantage of a hockey game in hi-def while Ben and Madie took advantage of the snacks available at Grandma’s house. Where else can you get served cheese and crackers in bed while watching cartoons?
Ben did great during his appointment with the art psychotherapist at Children’s today. I had a few questions on this, so here’s the skinny: kids don’t respond well to adult psychological discussions or treatments. Picture Freud asking a six year what a cigar means to them. Children psychologists use play and art to determine how kids are feeling as it’s a normal part of their communication.
Ben’s usually very shy when meeting new people and has been very unengaged for the last few weeks thanks to decadron doing wonders to his social skills. We saw none of that today. He insisted on spending time alone with the therapist before letting Madie join in. She said he opened right up and laughed while playing ball with her and learning how to make a toy figure dance. He drew a great picture of what makes him happy - eating grapes, watermelon and broccoli. I’d say it was the decadron munchies kicking in, but those are honestly his favorite foods (alas, my efforts to get him hooked on M&M’s have been wasted). He also had a good time showing Madie how to make the figure dance and didn’t complain about the therapist making him walk in the hospital.
Today showed us how important it is for Ben to feel like he can do things without our help. A little self-reliance seems to be the best medicine for him right now.
Thank you to everyone who’s been helping out with meals and donations. I cannot express how much your support and love means to us.
