Fighting the fat

When Marielle was on treatment, she was on high dose steroids 5 days every 21 days. Now, steroids make you want to eat, you crave things, usually high fat, high salt things and honestly you do not want to fight with a 3, 4, or 5 year old when they are on steroids. The phrase "roid rage" might have been created to explain the rage that athletes using steroids get but believe me, you ain't seen nothing if you haven't seen a 4 year old in a fit of 'roid rage.

So, the entire time Marielle was on treatment, which was more than 2 years, we kept the house stocked with things she might crave, from sausages to chips to chicken nuggets. While on treatment, her weight crept up. When she started treatment, she was normal weight, maybe a slight bit on the slim side. When she ended her treatment, she was overweight.

It's kind of funny, in a weird way, because people picture kids with cancer as being very thin and sallow. But, for young kids getting pumped full of steroids, the "ALL look" is big, fat cheeks and a big tummy. (Steroids shift weight from other parts of the body to the stomach area.) So you wind up with a child who has a "beer belly".

I do not want my children, especially my daughter, to have to fight fat her entire life, which is pretty much the road I've been on, so I decided we were going to begin "operation eat right". Starting last January, I ditched all that high fat, high sodium food. We all eat healthier now.

My goal was not to have my girl lose weight, just not gain weight as she grew. As a result, she has grown 1.5 inches since last June and lost .6 kilo (about a pound). She is now a normal, healthy weight. I'm so happy about this and my hope is that she has now changed her tastes and craves healthy food.

Extreme Makeover Rockstar Edition Now Complete

We finished the last bit of Marielle's room makeover today. She hasn't seen it yet! I'm so excited for her to come home and see the wall! Her room is now complete. We are hoping that this theme will grow with her and it will be a long time until another room redo!

What a way to pass an afternoon...

Curled up on the pile of freshly laundered clothes, catching the afternoon sunshine, our 6 month old kitten and our 13 year old cat, share cuddle time.

39....again

So the kids have been talking birthdays quite a bit lately, as in "I can hardly wait until I'm 10" or "I can hardly wait until I'm 12". And the subject of my birthday came up again not too long ago. Now, mind you, my birthday is in April, so it wasn't any time recently that we celebrated it.

But, last year, I turned 39.....again. And Marielle caught it and asked, "Can you do that, Mom?", to which my reply was, "I just did".

So yesterday she asks me, "Mom are you just going to stay 39 all the time now?"
I answered, "Pretty much, yeah".
She shook her head and said OK and walked away.

Just wait, little one, one day, you'll understand!

Perfect!

That's how Marielle's blood counts look. We had our clinic visit today. Her numbers are perfect across the board. Now, if you haven't walked this path, you can't imagine how it feels when we do a blood draw. My mind say, "Look at her, she's healthy, she's strong, she's doing great" and yet I worry until I actually see the results. I try to forget about it but it nags the back of my brain.

See, I just don't know if I could do it again....of course, I know I could if I had to, but 2+ years of chemotherapy, watching your child suffer the side effects, all the emotional turmoil that comes with it, well, it's the hardest thing I've ever done and I really, really don't want to ever walk down that path again.

So, I'm on a high today, hearing that her numbers are perfect, hearing the oncologist say that she's so strong (no lasting Vincristine side effects), she's grown 1.5 inches since summertime and lost .6 of a kilo over that same time period, which means the steroid weight is gone, gone, gone!

So, today, life is good!

Blood draw queen

Since Marielle decided to ditch the broviac, a mere 9 months into treatment (that lasted over 2 years) she's had well over 100 blood draws so far. Yesterday she went for another one. We are now able to go every OTHER month for blood draws, since she is more than a year off treatment! As always, she did really well. I think some adults could learn a lesson from her.

Rockstar room makeover part 2

So today we put up some of the wall decor for Marielle's new "rock star room". I think it looks pretty cool and there is still more to come (one more wall to complete).

Anyway, here's the wall opposite the bed....rock on.