Milestone: Dad actually ate Birthday cake!

Dad has been on a pureed/liquid diet since his surgery and recovery October 2010.  A first he had a g-tube in and was feeding himself “nutrition in a can”.  This so called nutrition which is prescribed by the hospital upon discharge by a physician.  If I may… this so called nutrition consisted of over 500 calories of fabricated proteins and shot up with vitamins and essential minerals. This foodstuff was disgusting. It was the color of cement, smelled of a yeasty sweet soy formula, and when is landed on the floor adhered itself as if it was cement.

Dad hated it. He was a man who ate whole foods, grains vegetables fruits and many legumes. He prepared his own food fresh daily.  Now as a result of head and neck cancer, he was reduced to what he called baby formula disguised as cement.  \

Once dad was done with his recovery: dressing changes, trach hole closed up,  and all the places where they took skin grafts healed, we started thinking outside of the box. We looked into pureeing foods to put into the tube. He was working on Swallow therapy.  Finally the G-tube came out and he was feeding himself daily smoothies and soups puree.  He kept decided to bag the cans of nutrition which he dubbed poison.

For over a year he has said he didn’t think he could swallow anything other than soup,  smoothie and coffee.

So we had the birthday celebration for the March Birthdays. I baked a carrot cake, dark chocolate cake and vanilla orange cupcakes. Pamela made cookies. When Dad walked into see the desert table his jaw dropped. He placed himself next to the chocolate cake and as I was serving he pushed his plate forward/ I kind of joked  and asked if I could help him. He asked for a small piece of the chocolate cake.

This was an amazing moment. I wasn’t sure if he was serious. I think he wasn’t sure either.

He took a bite and I watched … slowly he chewed. .. I waited to see if he would choke… and nothing. he had a look of pure pleasure on his face!  He was so pleased. I asked if he wanted a coffee or milk chaser. he said coffee please. he savored each bite . then the cake was gone! We were all at some point during his cake eating making eyes at one another as if to say “look Dad is eating cake!”.  It was his first truly solid food since before the surgery.

Miracles do happen every day.

Thank you Lord! And thanks to Dad for sticking it out and making every effort to survive.

Amazing! Chocolate can do wonders:)

  The desert table. Dad waned chocolate!

Why do I love chocolate so?

I have always been a fan.  The darker the better. Though I really do enoy chocolate in many forms. I love when my youngest makes her chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. I love the ones that are , shall I say, well done. I love the caramelized flavor of the chips on the bottom.

I am a fan of chocolate cakes of any kind: dark , fudge, or milk chocolate. I also enjoy chocolate ice cream. I thoroughly enjoy the Ice cream from South Mountain Creamery(a local creamery).

Chocolate milk is a delicious treat. And though I do desire a cup of cocoa on a cold evening, I cannot drink the stuff as I always end up with nightmares.

My favorite form of chocolate is in Young’s Double Chocolate Stout. It is like drinking a delightful dessert!

I know there are many fabulous high end chocolate houses like Godiva ( note the word has Diva in it).    We went to New York  and visited the Times Square Hershey’s store.  And the kids bought this box of assortment for the train ride home.

It made the train ride better.

So for me chocolate is something I crave.

I decided to give it up for lent. I mean it is supposed to be a sacrifice. 40 days.

Not sure what I was thinking. As I have grown older, I have been more needy of chocolate.

So here we are in the second week of lent and all I  can think of smell and taste in my dreams is chocolate. I thought if I wrote about it, I would get it out of my system.

However, I am left with the desire for that chocolate stout!

I think I have 30 some days to go.  I think I can make it! Cheers!