Just When We Thought We Were Done…

No, I’m not pregnant. What is it with you people? Babies come in their own time, plus my husband’s been in Turkey!

It’s #4. Again.

We’ve been through the arthritis and the broken jaw and the missing teeth. We were seeing the light at the end of the rainbow. She was in remission and we were starting to learn how to breathe again. But she keeps throwing up.

We originally thought that her constant nausea was the methotrexate. Chemotherapy will make your stomach hurt. It was a given. They took her off of it and said wait four weeks for it to clear out of her system completely.

That was nine (almost ten really) weeks ago.

She’s still throwing up every single day. She’s nauseous when she gets up in the morning. By late afternoon she’s curled up in the fetal position crying. By dinner time she has thrown up at least once. She’s tired all the time and has giant circles under her eyes. There’s obviously something else wrong with her.

Her doctor is thinking it’s ulcers. He thinks it’s reasonable to conclude that a year and a half of chemotherapy has eaten holes into her stomach lining. I can’t say that I disagree with him. It sounds as good as any other theory.

The only definitive diagnostic tool for ulcers is to scope her. We’re not a fan of that, us or the doctor. He suggested that she go on a bland diet of meat, vegetables, and fruits for the next month to see if it heals her gut. If it doesn’t, then we can talk about gastroenterologists, general anesthesia, and scoping her insides.

In the meantime we’re watching what she eats and hoping that it helps. On the plus side, she only threw up twice this week. On the downside, she still threw up twice this week. Is it too much to ask for a break for her? This is a whole lot of sick on one tiny girl.

I don’t wish bad on any of my other children, but there are days I have to wonder “Why is it always her?”