The kid literally is as clean as they come and has never touched anything in his life. When he lived with us for his last two years of high school, I remember one time trying to convince him to take advil for a headache. On his 21st birthday, we celebrated here, and we tried in vain to get him to have something- bourbon? Wine? Beer? He took a sip of bourbon, grinned at us, "I'm good, thanks guys."
During those high school years when other parents were worried about their kids throwing crazy parties when they were gone and refilling alcohol bottles to pretend they hadn't raided the cabinet, our biggest concern were the nerf wars that would happen if we left Oliver home alone. I am 100% serious. In fact, I am fairly sure I am still finding nerf bullets from those- of course now, it is ten fold with my kids love of nerf. Fun fact: A couple of thanksgiving's ago we had EVERYONE over including big sis Laura, and we had an EPIC nerf war that the little boys still talk about. All of that to say: Oliver is a clean kid. I can only imagine what this massive influx is doing to him- not only his body, but his head, as well.
Yesterday Colleen arrived bright and early. All of us had a late night worried about OG in the ER and what was going on. She left east of the mountains around 6am so was to our house by 8. We actually were able to get Oliver in to the shower. It was a short one, but it probably felt good! We put a chair in there so he could just sit under the water. He was nauseous, but not dizzy...thank GOD. We started from square one with trying to figure out the right mix of drugs to help with the nausea and to NOT induce the dizziness... basically what we tried (after talking to the doctor yesterday morning) was a different anti-nausea med every 3 hours (rotating between two, because you can only take one type every 6 hours).
He still spent much of the day in bed, well, most of it, but we did drag him outside to sit in the sun for 10 minutes. Sun, as one of the major natural meds! He wasn't super happy about it, but I have to believe that it did some good. His cells were happy!
Shortly after the sun adventure we took him back inside to rest more and of course, huge focus on pushing liquids (water) and food, if we were able. Water being the main priority as his heart rate continues to spike throughout the day (I think yesterday we saw a high of 126, resting). It is due to needing more liquids (as well as probably a combo of the meds). When we were in there we were asking if he felt like any visitors, and he quipped "You mean that supermodel from Vogue?" Hahaha. Despite not talking much, occasionally he throws something in that about makes us die laughing.
He still also continues to sleep in his favorite position: LEGS UP!
The little guy got home from school after being doused with sugar for the summer birthday celebration. Bennett was SO happy Owen was home because it meant swimming time at the neighbors. Bennett doesn't have school on Thursdays so had been patiently (or not so patiently) waiting for Owen all day. At one point, Bennett went in to Oliver's room to show Colleen something (all of us, including the kids, were SO happy to see her!), and he had told me he wanted to tell Oliver something (and told me what it was). As we were leaving, I said to Bennett, hey you wanted to tell Oliver something. Little B-nut: "I love you, Oliver." Heart melted.
While the kids were swimming, we started dinner. We fired up the grill as it is actually quite hot here right now. I looked at Justin: "So, what are you going to grill?" OK, in line with our lives right now, it might require food to grill.... so I ran down to our little market to pick up a couple of things. The things that you don't really think about that are part of "normal" lives- like going to the grocery store. Duh, we do still need to do that stuff. We do have donuts! In that vein, Bennett's amazing preschool teacher texted me that she was at Costco yesterday and actually picked up a few things for us...how nice is that?! You don't really think about what you will need when you are going through something like this, but stuff like that- just the actual GOING is the stuff that you forget about and is truly a life saver. Or our neighbors the day before watching the kids when we had hazmat situation 1000. The support and love we have felt has just been.... unreal. You know you have a tribe, but then you KNOW you have a tribe when stuff like this happens. It's also added an awareness of what I can do for others when they are in this boat- I never really knew what to say, or what to do that would be helpful. Now I do.
Oliver actually made it on to the couch for a while (forgot to snap a pic) prior to dinner. He wanted a change of scenery and was just kind of agitated and anxious. We are not sure what is causing his agitation- he is the most calm, non-angry person I know. We are trying to determine if it is just his head and just being pissed about everything (understandable) or if it is a med that is causing it to be worse (he's been on a steroid, which could induce this further). It is a question we have out to his medical team.
After dinner: the face of the dad who held his kid all night the night before. Poor guy was utterly spent.
We were then able to get Oliver some of his sleepy anti-nausea meds after some tea (which he liked!) These meds bring down his heart rate and allow him to relax, but they totally knock him out- which is good, as it does allow for him to have a good night's sleep.
We are grateful for a pretty low key day. Oliver was by no means 100%, mostly a "5" all day (we keep asking him, ok Oliver 1-10). But, that said, it was an improvement from the negative 1000 of the day before when he was puking his guts out and about dang near having seizures. That was beyond scary, and something we hope to not have happen again. I can't even adequately describe with words how bad that was. He kept craning his head back (day 6) and convulsing up (at one point told Justin, if I just lean back and up, I won't cartwheel forward). So, yeah. We will take the "5" star days, hands down over that. Of course, the best day would be: cancer free, and onward! We'll get there. #oliverstrong.
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