WEEK ONE AND DONE

Food brings people together and one of Eli's favorite things is eating. He's been a food enthusiast since 2008 and "getting food" is a hobby. If we need to run an errand he always asks, "can we get food?" On the way home after a baseball game, "can we get food?"After a doctor or dentist appointment, "can we get food?" He's lost about 10 lbs in the last little stretch here, but Wednesday was a good eating day and some of his buddies and baseball teammates dropped off Panda Express. I'm sure that they all love ending up on this here blog. 

I've been the most worried about how treatments, surgery, anesthesia etc. would affect Eli's appetite knowing that food is his favorite and it makes me sad that nothing sounds good, so I am sort of going out of my way to say yes when something actually does sound good and then will try to sneak in as much nutrition as possible.

I know how important it will be to keep him as strong and healthy as we can. We need and want him to be #ELISTRONG, just like these amazing bracelets that our friends made for us to support Eli. Each time I look down at them on my wrist I can't help but feel like we've got this battle.

Bella had an asthma flare-up this week that came on literally overnight and was accompanied by some wheezing, so I grabbed her from school to get checked out at the doctor while Eli stayed home and slept in. Some asthma meds and an inhaler refill should hopefully get her on the mend soon. We are definitely meeting our insurance deductible this year! It never fails that she gets bronchitis every couple of years and the recent turn in cold weather hasn't helped. I checked in on Eli on our way home and compromised on his request of cookies and cream ice cream in exchange for a breakfast sandwich first. He is taking the doctor's comments of letting him eat whatever sounds good, quite literally.

I got out of the house and went to the district football playoff game last night. The theme was "Wear Yellow" to support our little minion and Timberline ended up winning in dramatic fashion in OT with a 2-point conversion. It was a good distraction, even though it was chilly.

Today we headed to our clinic appointment to get Eli's port accessed for the first time doing some out-patient blood draws to check his counts and follow-up with the oncologist. This is going to be a regular thing to check his white & red blood cells, platelets, neutrophils and more to make sure his counts aren't dropping too much and that they have recovered enough before the next treatments. So far they looked really good today, but he went in to this first treatment at his healthiest and they usually drop around Day 10. He's had a little ringing in his ears the last couple of days, which is caused by the Cisplatin that permanently damages the hair cells.

He was hungry and wanted Costco pizza and I figured I could pick up a few things. He ate a few slices on the way home and has felt pretty good today. It was nice to get out of the house and I told him that he can get back to driving and going for a cruise on days that he feels good enough. 

We had a crockpot full of awesomeness and some frozen enchiladas delivered by Cobes. Food is a language that everyone speaks and it is really nice that people are communicating with us through meals. It really is nice to not have to think about one more thing a few days a week. My sweet longest and oldest friend ever sent a beautiful yellow-themed flower arrangement with sunflowers and Eli finally got his CHIP cookies, because "chip happens". 

Thank you all for loving us and loving our boy.