Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2008

Another 2 days of eating horror! Most times, I am sitting next to her trying to coax her into eating. Other times I'm walking away totally frustrated and telling her it's up to her, if she doesn't want to eat, she doesn't have to. Yesterday, after spending an hour drinking a chocolate protein drink, she struggled to eat some fruit. She ended up throwing the whole plate of strawberries, blueberries and grapes into the garbage thinking she could fool me into thinking she ate it. Well she couldn't do it and came upstairs crying that she threw the food out. I know it's a lot of pressure for her, especially after the comments and threats from the doctors. She feels it, she knows it, and it's always there.

Yesterday we went to see a naturopathic doctor, who specializes in cleansing and strengthening the body to address and prevent both chronic and acute diseases. Naturopathic doctors work in harmony with the body's immune system, to increase strength and vitality. Our friend Alec went to see this doctor, who put him on a regimen of supplements and his mom said she noticed a dramatic difference in his strength, muscle tone, and immune system. After our visit on Monday to clinic and Hannah's very low nutrition status, I wanted to hear what this doctor had to say. She did have vast knowledge of natural medicines and recommended quite a few things for Hannah. At this point, I'm willing to try them to see if it boosts Hannah's nutritional status, especially her protein level. Well, easier said than done. So, here we are with Hannah and Colby trying to choke down their first drink which included protein powder and greens powder combined with chocolate ice cream and milk. I figured this would be a good supplement for Colby also. Oh boy, it was not a pretty picture. Lots of crying and stalling and whining. Can you see those tears in the picture?
I have to say that the drinks were pretty bad. They were a greenish brownish blob, thick and chunky and the taste was awful. It was not a good experiment.

This morning, I eliminated the greens from the drink, so now it's a chocolate protein drink, which can be taken pretty easily, but still with lots of encouragement and lots of time...in other words, it takes forever. Here is what Hannah's schedule of supplements are right now:
Vitamin D3-anti inflammatory
Zinc Sulfate-immune support as well as stimulation to restore taste buds
Omega 3-anti inflammatory and immune support
Vitamin K-to ensure against over production of calcium from the Vitamin D
multivitamin
Kytril-anti nausea pills
Paleomeal protein drink
ready-set-go - natural constipation relief
intestinal repair complex-to help repair damaged intestines from chemo
winterberry liquid-antioxidant complex


I feel like I'm torturing her each day to try and get all this in her. I don't have a good schedule down yet, especially since each dose of something takes hours to get her to take it. I have yet to get it all in in one day. Here they are tonight with the new protein only drink, it went a bit better, and at least they were both able to drink it eventually.

I did speak to the doctors today and they said that Hannah's liver function is normal, which means that the low albumin level is truly a measure of her inadequate nutritional level. To put it in perspective, Hannah's level is equal to, or lower than many kids in a study from Mexico City whose diet consisted of beans and cornmeal cakes, and only on a very limited basis. These kids were severely malnourished and their condition was considered serious enough to warrant their admission into the hospital for IV feedings and albumin injections. That is where Hannah is right now. The doctors are going to draw blood again next week at the hospital to check her prealbumin, a different indicator which measures changes in nutritional status much quicker than albumin levels, which take about 21 days to increase, at the earliest. We will see then if all this torture is making a difference.

xoxo Kim