The last two days I've been totally exhausted. If Emily is awake, she's whining for food. This is after her prednisone had been reduced by half. And she is still really, really unsteady. She wants to eat every couple of hours, day or night. Since she only gained .2 lb last week I'm worried that her feeding plan is not enough so I've up'ed her intake and am spreading it out. I'm out of the ND diet so I cooked up some brown rice to add to her homemade diet. The ND diet is a bit higher in carbs than conventional wisdom indicates for lymphoma patients but it does give her some of that bulk so I'm trying to replace that and brown rice has polysaccharides which are thought to be beneficial for fighting the cancer. The ND diet and Dr. Ogilvie both use rice. Emily gets less than half of her daily intake from the ND diet so she's getting a lighter carb load.
I've also added a bit of pumpkin. It's surprisingly low carb for a starchy veg and full of beta carotene and vitamin K, both of which are important in the cancer fight. Although to be honest I really started using it because Emily had a case of the runs and then only had a very, very small poop and I'm afraid she's a bit constipated. Pumpkin will absorb liquid, which she is still drinking buckets of, and regulate her bowl/poop production.
Right now when Emily naps, I nap. And any food she does get in between meals I make into an event, take up her dish, freshen her water and serve her whatever snack/treat she's getting spread around her dish. After she eats it, she has a drink and then settles for a bit.
Just a week and a half left of the prednisone and hopefully the appetite will return to normal and she'll get some steadiness back.
Just hanging in there..
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