Confections For Cats

My thoughts and Mathew’s experience with nutritional considerations while going through chemotherapy. Before Mathew’s diagnosis, he had been a vegetarian. When he arrived at Moffitt, within the first few days, they suggested he make the decision to go back to eating meat because his body needed the nutrition and while some of his vegetarian friends said it is possible on a vegetarian diet, Mathew took the Doctors suggestion. Because the sarcoma was affecting his organs, his blood levels were either high or low in addition to his liver functions being high. On his own, Mathew made that decision. I know he spoke at length to his spiritual advisor and weighed everything the doctors had told him. He said it was difficult and distasteful in the beginning, but Mathew was a pragmatist and he trusted his medical team. One member of his team was a nutritionist. She would come around and gave us printed material on general nutrition, nutrition after chemo, and later food safety fo...

The first five weeks after Mathew was diagnosed with Stage 4 Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Sarcoma,  I was in typical caregiver mode, all the focus was on getting the medical information and seeing that everything was being done, all with the goal of getting to the other side, for Mathew to be cancer free and moving on with his life. But somewhere, right now I don’t recall exactly at what point, I realized that this was our lives. That the time we spent in hospital rooms, or waiting rooms or in the car traveling back and forth was our lives, our time together, a chance to make memories. I was in constant caregiver/warrior mode and at the same time, I learned to be in each moment with Mathew. We spent a lot of time talking. Talking about his wishes for end of life and his funeral. His observations on Bob Dylan’s lyrics. Ways to work around the neuropathy in his hands. That may be why this time is so vivid to me still.  Many things, other than medical care went on during ...