Ice Cream & Cake

Satomi sleeps a lot. 

It’s 4:30pm Tuesday afternoon and so far, she’s been awake about twenty-minutes.  The word “awake” is a bit too generous though.  In this context, “awake” means one eye open and enough consciousness to coax her to open her mouth.  It took some effort but we got in some liquids and high-calorie food.  Even in this state, she was a picky eater.  She didn’t like the Ensure shake at all.  In the end it fell back onto a couple ounces of vitamin-enriched juice, a few tablespoons of melted ice cream, and some sips of water.  There were no words, no wave, and no greeting for her visitors.  In all practical measures, she’s sedated now.

Yesterday, she was a bit more alert but still ate very minimally; a bite or two for breakfast, sleeping through lunch and a “later, later” response for dinner.  As it got later, I got determined and called in the big guns-her all time favorite-Dobash Chocolate Cake!  Her mom gave her two bites before Satomi refused it.  That wasn’t good enough for me so I grabbed the cake and sat down next to the bed.

I wrote Satomi a note, “You don’t eat or drink.  Nothing for two days.  You must eat something.”  It took a few minutes for her to read and understand.

I sliced off a small bit of cake and gave it to her.  She was slow to chew but responded after tasting it, “…yum…”

I broke off more cake and continued.  Her pace quickened until the entire piece including all of the frosting was either in her stomach or on her face.  I was so happy that she got something in her.  She drank a few gulps of water and quickly fell back to sleep.

We’ll try to give her something else later this evening.