Getting from there to here

I'm at home right now; going to get dressed and leave in a bit, but since I didn't leave early, I'd rather not sit through the work and school traffic.

Sunday was a nice day. I arrived at the hospital and The Boy was in a decent mood. We played, we chilled, and then Grandma and I went out once Musical Daddy arrived back from singing. We had a lovely lunch at an Italian place in the mall, did some shopping, and came back with some cute stuff for The Boy. And some for me too. We didn't get Musical Daddy anything even though we did consider it because we didn't want him to feel left out. He had to go out and sing again for a few hours; when he came back, he and I went to the diner for dinner.

Neither of us was all that hungry, so we each had a little breakfast instead.

Yesterday I got my hair cut. Nothing special--just a trim since I hadn't had one since before Passover and wasn't sure when I'd get one next. I also went to the dollar store and got some little silly things for The Boy and some socks for Grandma.

Grandma has begun the practice of giving The Boy a present once he has taken his Hydralazine. He is better at it than he's been, but he still makes such a scene like he is being tortured. We sometimes offer it to him to take voluntarily, but he pretty much always wastes it by spitting, so we don't bother--it's just forcing and it's awful but he needs the medicine. It really hasn't been that long that he's been on it, and I am hoping that he becomes accustomed to it so that we don't have to torture him. Seriously--giving an injection of Neupogen is actually easier, as I might have said.

They have changed The Boy's diet orders. They have also made the decision to send him the renal diet menu instead of the regular kid's menu. This is actually better, in my opinion, because The Boy doesn't eat the kid stuff anyway. Also, they take care of making sure that he sticks to his diet. We do have plenty of food that we brought that is compatible with his diet, however.

Yesterday's eating pattern was kind of funny for him, especially since lunch was late and dinner was on time. He woke up late and had breakfast--yogurt and shredded wheat. Didn't want his eggs today. He was hungry again when lunch was supposed to arrive but it hadn't yet. More yogurt and shredded wheat. After his nap, it was about 3:45 and he woke up hungry. He ate his lunch of chicken and rice. Dinner arrived at 5:30 and he wasn't interested in it because he had just eaten! Then a bit later in the evening, he had a snack of blue corn chips (unsalted of course), unsalted pretzels, and sour cream.

He's not an exceptionally picky eater, but he does get particular about some things. We can go anywhere and find something that he will eat (with the renal diet, we have to be sure we find things that he CAN eat). He sounds like a picky eater because he doesn't like a lot of the foods that first come to mind with kids. Doesn't like chicken fingers and french fries (can't have them anyway). Doesn't like cookies and cake. Only likes a few kinds of ice cream and vanilla isn't one of them. Not big into veggies right now (he and many other children). I've also noticed that when he is more hungry, he is more likely to eat a wider variety. And then he starts to like some other foods again. When he is at a point in the chemo cycle where he isn't hungry, we try to stick with the simple stuff.

To really simplify his diet instructions, I turn to Larry the Cable Guy (I think he was the one who said it; might have been Jeff Foxworthy). He needs to avoid 'taters, 'maters, and 'nanners.