Pill-taking Post

Now that Jacob is in the maintenance stage of chemotherapy he takes a pill every night before bed. It’s a chemo med called 6MP—and it has another really long name—but we just call it 6MP. He also takes Methotrexate (another chemo) on Thursdays and Septra every Monday and Tuesday. Septra is an antibiotic to prevent pneumonia, as I understand it. It’s not that he’s really at risk for pneumonia right now, but it’s just pretty rough if he does happen to get it. So, it’s a preventative medication. Jacob also takes a steroid, Dexamethasone, for five days every four weeks.  
Anyway, it’s not as confusing or overwhelming as it may sound, each clinic visit I get a calendar with all his meds and when to take them. And, you know, it’s just part of the routine now. But the reason I’m even posting this is to tell you about Jacob’s pill-taking progress. He is awesome at taking pills now. Really, he is awesome.
Several months ago when he started taking lots of meds he mostly had liquids but some of those taste pretty nasty. So we’ve gradually moved to all pills. At first he would take them in a spoonful of pudding or raspberry jam but now he just pops ‘em like a pro—no pudding, no nothin’! Sometimes he doesn’t even need a drink of water, but we don’t recommend that.  I’m so proud of my little boy. I keep telling him that I didn’t learn to swallow pills until I was twelve and he’s six.

The other thing that I’m proud of is how responsible he is about his meds. He is good at remembering and even reminding us about his pills, if he doesn’t fall asleep first that is. The 6MP needs to be taken at night on an empty stomach so lately we’ve had to wake him up to take it—but he still takes the pill like a champ even when he's half-asleep. Like I said, it’s all part of the routine.

Several weeks ago Scott and I went out and left the kids with a babysitter. We told Jacob we’d give him his meds when we got home. When we got back we found that he’d written us a little note, just to help us remember. It was so cute.

“6MP; To Mom; Read this note, it is taped. To Mom and Dad”