Thursday, May 27

Chemo Round 1, Day 13

Collin had a nice quiet night last night; we both slept well. He has had no more vomiting since his tube feed was turned off and his anti-emetics were increased. The break has been really nice (for both of us)!

This morning physical therapy and music therapy came together to work with Collin. We sat on the floor mat, and Collin sat on my lap. He did a great job holding his head up, and he played with the toy dinosaurs and the ball again. We got him to try to kick the ball once using his weaker leg. Then the music therapist played the guitar and sang. Collin seemed to enjoy it, and he played with one or two little instruments himself. He tired quickly though, so I put him back into bed and he took a nap. After lunch I knew that the speech therapist and occupational therapist would be in to see him, but I didn't think he'd have a whole lot of energy based on how he had been in the morning. However, I was reminded again that you just never know how things will turn out, or when you might witness something quite miraculous.

The speech therapist came in to see if Collin was up to a session with her. She wanted to try offering him some tastes of apple juice on a spoon. I told her how he had wanted to nurse last night for a few minutes, and asked her if we could try some pumped milk on the spoon first. Then I asked Collin, who was laying in bed, if he wanted to sit up and have some milk. He reached his arm up to me, so I sat him up on the bed and held him in a sitting position. The speech therapist poured a little milk onto the spoon, and this time, instead of Collin fussing and resisting, he opened his mouth! So she carefully trickled the milk into his mouth, and then offered him another taste. He opened his mouth again! I thought things couldn't get any better-I was amazed (as was the speech therapist I think!) and overjoyed. When the little bit of milk was gone, the therapist spooned some of the juice out of a little bowl of diced peaches, and Collin again opened his mouth for a taste. He seemed to enjoy the peach juice too. Then the speech therapist offered him a taste of yogurt. Yet again Collin opened his mouth, and leaned forward for a few tastes. Then, he tried holding the spoon and feeding himself, which he had only done one other time at home!! We were all amazed! The occupational therapist gave me my iPhone so I could try to take a video of Collin having his second "first bites" of food, but when Collin saw the phone, he took it with both hands and wanted to watch his favorite videos. Then when he put the phone down, he started touching my face with his hand, and before I knew it, he was taking my glasses off my face...and laughing!! We were all laughing with him-it was truly amazing, and I don't ever want to forget the joy I felt at seeing him do such seemingly simple things!

This evening I sat Collin up in his bed and offered him a few bites of melted chocolate ice cream. He had a chocolate mustache, and thoroughly enjoyed the ice cream until his foot ended up in it. He even took the spoon and tried feeding himself again. Then I held him in the rocking chair, and he nursed for a few minutes. Then we just cuddled and rocked for a while. He was very tired tonight, but thanks to the Benadryl that helps with his nausea, he is sleeping peacefully. What a great day!