Bandaid Goo

You know that goo that bandaids leave behind when you take them off? The sticky gray line that you can scrub over and over, and it seems to take days for it to wash off? I swear I'll never get Matthew all the way clean again because of all the bandaid goo.

He still has steri-strips from his surgery 15 days ago (wow has it already been that long?) and they look gross, but at our appointment yesterday the nurse said she'd ask the doctor about them, and the doctor didn't say anything about it, and I forgot. So, I'm not sure if I can take them off or not. They don't look very steri anymore, though.

Then he's got those gooey gray lines in all these weird places around his body. On his back where they did the Lumbar Puncture. Every time I get rid of that one, they do another Lumbar Puncture, creating a new gooey gray line. He has a few on his chest around his port, and one on each wrist (although I think they may be officially gone now).

But I keep finding them. Poor Matthew is sick of me scrubbing him. Yesterday's bath was traumatic for him. He cried the whole time. I guess I just need to be patient and wait for the gooey lines to disappear over time.

On a different note, lots of people asked me how Chemo went yesterday. It really wasn't too bad. He only had to have Vincristine, which takes 2 minutes, so we didn't have to go out to the armchairs where they usually administer Chemo. We just stayed in the exam room. We met a new doctor, who is very young, but super smart and nice. He can't possibly even be 30, which is wild, since oncology is quite an intense specialty. Maybe he was one of those genius kids who graduated high school at like 14, and went straight to college.

Matthew continues to gain weight. He gained 4 lbs last week, which is more than 10% of his body weight. He looks very pudgy. It's kinda cute, but sad at the same time. The extra weight, combined with the muscle weakness is making it hard for him to go up the stairs without help. The doctor yesterday said he had a patient once who had to be moved around in a stroller for the last week of steroids. But he says it isn't long term at all. This is the longest stretch of steroids we'll have to do, and the side effects will mostly be gone within a couple of weeks of getting off of them.

Good thing, because I can only handle so many more marathon breakfasts! Today's menu was 2 eggs and 4 pieces of buttered toast, a bowl of popcorn, half a bowl of cereal, and he's asking me to come and make him something else now -- probably pizza. It's currently 9:15 am.