10/03 - Mail me those side effects

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Monday, October 03, 2005
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The other day my sweet wife was perusing through a book that she
ordered from one of the pediatric brain tumor foundations. She
went to the section about drug side effects, and found Decadron,
one of the drugs son #4 was on. He was on it while he was in the hospital. It’s supposed to help reduce brain swelling. Here are
just a few of the side effects listed;

Mood changes (we saw some of this)
Increased appetite (“He ate like a horse”)
Food obsessions (Cheesecake)
Weight gain (he’s gained 5 pounds since diagnosis)
Fluid retention (He was very puffy)
Round face and protruding belly (I mention this to 2 docs, and
they didn’t connect the dots for us)
Sleeplessness (Tough first week back! Up at 2AM every day)
Nightmares (I’ll say! “There were spiders fighting in my head”)

Anyway, that was his first week home after they took the tumor
out. So, I guess we didn’t have to worry about all of that stuff
when it happened. (although we did) Ahh... if we had just known
this stuff before hand...

Anyway, I think I told you that son #4 likes to go over to
“Grandma Neighbors” house and get candy to put in the mailbox
for the mailman. Son #4 takes 2 pieces, eats one and puts the
other in the mailbox. Well Saturday as we were in the van
leaving, the mailman pulled up behind us. I got out to grab the
mail from him and he said, “Is son #4 with you?” I said, “Yeah,
he’s in the van.” He replied, “Wait just a second, I’ve got
something for him.” We got out of his truck and brought his bag
to the side of our van. He pulled out a post office hat, a post
office teddy bear, a 1932 replica toy mail truck, some stamp
coloring books, and pencils. Son #4’s eyes lit up each time he
pulled something else out of his bag. The mailman asked how he
was doing, and what was going to happen next. He was genuinely
concerned. A real nice guy and a class act.

So, next time you see your postman, give him a wave. Some of
them are pretty cool guys!



And, for those of you who get this as email...
Enjoy today’s Jokes!
Marty

"Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. And today? Today
is a gift. That's why we call it the present."
~Babatunde Olatunji

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