Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Reflux Chronicle: Trialing No G-tube

Charlotte: Remember when Charlotte ate tomato soup and had a tomato beard?

Mommy: Yes, I do. I even took a picture.
Charlotte: Can I see it?


Charlotte: Ooooooooooo.....Charlotte had a beard just like Daddy.
(This conversation is repeated about four times a day)
*****************************

People always ask me how Charlotte is eating. Simple answer: Very, very well. For Charlotte, that is.

For more detail I could tell you about the volumes she's eating, how she chews so slowly it makes us crazy, or I could list the g'zillion foods she'll eat these days. But I'd rather just share some recent food stories that will become family legend:

Philippe and I took Charlotte to S'bucks last week. At first she didn't want anything. When she saw my hot chocolate, she asked for her own. Of course, we got her one. About 3 minutes after I handed it to her, she asked me to take it and give her a glass of water. Much to my surprise, the hot chocolate cup was empty!! In case you're wondering, that was 8 ounces and approximately 200 calories in 3 minutes. Seriously.

Goldfish crackers: Charlotte asks for them as a snack before breakfast! Yesterday, she had some in the car, accompanied by a cup of water. She then told us that there were fishies swimming in her tummy. Usually, she said, fishies swim in water, but now they're swimming in Charlotte's tummy!

My friend Esther recently told me a very sweet story about her daughter Sarah sharing a chocolate-covered strawberry that she had made in pre-school. As Charlotte and I re-told the story, Charlotte decided to make chocolate-covered strawberries. How? She dumped her strawberries into her chocolate pudding and then scooped it all up together, creating a complex texture that she handled beautifully. In this way she ate about 1/8th of a cup of fresh fruit (grapes, berries, mangoes).

Yogurt-covered fruit: The next morning Charlotte did the same thing with her yogurt, this time finishing nearly a quarter of a cup of fruit by plopping it in her yogurt, bite-by-bite.

And, the pièce de résistance of all this dunking? Last night she had chocolate-covered peas!
Many thanks to Sarah and Esther for all that inspiration!

Tonight while reading Iggy Peck, Architect (no, I will never skip an opportunity to plug the book!), Charlotte pretended to eat the pancakes on the page where Iggy builds "the St. Louis arch out of pancakes and coconut pie." True story.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

So when does the tubie come out?
Bamma

Anonymous said...

Hello! My name is Jessica and I am 21. I also have truncus arteriosus and have been through 2 surgeries, both when I was 3wks and 3years and am about to undergo a 3rd this summer. I just wanted to give praise to you and your husband for treating Charlott like a regular girl and explaining things to her about her condition. On another note, I myself had a aortic valve put in with my conduit and had it in for 18 years before having to get it replaced,(this summer) and I'm still asymtomatic. (we found it via heart cath)I was looking online to see scars and other stories and wanted to let you know that having a blog and showing pictures of progress comforted me. To know that there are other people out there that have what I have and are healing well is amazing. You were very lucky to have Charlott in 2005 and not in the 80's. Medical discoveries and advancements have come so far. I didn't get to read your entire blog but just wanted to comment. You're not alone and you're doing a wonderful job. Please feel free to email me. Cateyejess@yahoo.com

Jessica said...

Hello!
I have a blog on google!