Arta is in hospital recovering from a bowel obstruction caused by a tumour on her pancreas. They were able to do a special procedure called a gastrojejunostomy (yes, of course, had this word memorized with only two tries of saying it out loud) to bypass the obstruction and allow her to continue to eat. Post-operation she has continued to have a lot of nausea and little appetite. The hosptial team looking after he is amazing and working on finding the right combination of meds to alleviate her pain and her nausea. We are getting close to that sweet spot. In the meantime we decided part of her lack of appetite had to do with the hosptial food she was getting -- too bland, or too sweet. And so, Sunday we brainstormed some ideas for food that sounded delicious to her that could still be mashed or purred to meet the dietary restrictions of her gastrojejunostomy recovery period.
If you know Arta, you know she looooooves vegetables. If anyone could convince through example that eating vegetables is joyful, it is Arta. I reminded her of how much she loves a soup thick with vegetables and we decided to make some and puree it and see if she would be interested in eating it. Here is the soup I made today to try and tempt her -- onions, celery, garlic, carrots, zucchini, spinach, fresh basil, pureed tomatoes and vegetable broth. I blended up a cup and brought it to the hospital.
I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say she was in heaven (on earth). She wasn't able to eat the amount she would usually have eaten in the past, but she did have about 6 tablespoons and licked out the bowl.
Eating soup with napkins handmade by Hebe
But also, if you know Arta, you know she also loves dessert. And dessert can happen anytime of the day. This morning she thought she'd be able to eat a couple of tablespons of ice cream if we could track down a little orange pop to make it into a float. Perfect breakfast.
She was also open to a trying two slices of banana and a spoonful of chocolate fondue.
Overall, it was a great day convincing her body and stomach to try out some food again. What will tomorrow's food adventures bring?
Glad you are about to eat some of the delicious foods, no matter their form. Ah vegetables and dessert! This reminds me of those oranges for dessert Arta! One of my favourite stories as a fresh new 19 year old in Alberta. Great napkins Hebe! Keep eating all the spoonfulls you can. Love you!
ReplyDeleteHappy to hear you got a break from hospital food with something delicious, Arta. After all, there is no greater joy than eating!
ReplyDeleteTo Pouria from Arta: yes to vegetables.
ReplyDeleteTo Tonia from Arta: In those days, we were lucky to be able to afford a bag of oranges Tonia. The fruit was more than just the cost of the vegetables, but the cost of turning them into a delicious dessert. I want to allude to Rebecca's interest in time, place and space. Thanks for reminding me of all of this.
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