The grilled cheese

His appetite has been pretty non-existent for the last few months. His weight was up and down for a while, and then stayed on the “down” side.  We started giving him Ensure, protein bars and whatever else he would eat just to keep some calories in him. We go through about 4 boxes of Honey Buns in a week, but most of the time he eats like a bird.

Lately, he’s been asking for a lot more. We give him a measly portion at dinner, thinking it’s all we’ll be able to get in him, and he comes back for seconds and even thirds sometimes. He had 4 slices of pizza not too long ago, which is HUGE.

Last night, Stephen decided to make a delicious treat I had seen on Facebook. Bacon wrapped grilled cheese sandwiches. Granddad was in bed (he sleeps a lot now at random times) so we made our own food thinking he wouldn’t be up anytime soon. However, the smell of bacon got to him I think.

He came into the living room, sat in his armchair and stared at Stephen. This was his way of asking for a sandwich. J

We sat and watched him eat his grilled cheese. He looked like a happy little child. He was eating it so fast, the cheese came out everywhere and he was struggling to keep up with it. He couldn’t seem to bite the cheese off, and so it kept drawing out like loose taffy from the bread to his mouth. He looked content. I won’t say happy, but content. It was the first time I had seen him really look like he was in a peaceful state of mind and he was enjoying himself.

I watched Stephen, too. He kept smiling and chuckling at his granddad. I think he felt joy. I think he was happy that granddaddy seemed to be so into his dinner. There was finally something he could do to make his granddad not miserable, even if it was as simple and brief as him eating a grilled cheese sandwich.

…and then he asked for “just another half”. J