Beets Are Scary

Last Thursday, Charlotte and I sat watching an episode of Fairly Oddparents, a really stupid cartoon, but it was helping entertain Charlotte and keep her mind off food. At this point, I was started to be concerned about her eating until she physically hurt herself. I was trying to get her to have a 15-20 minute break between her snacking. The characters on the show kept trying to force others to eat beets, and nobody wanted to eat them willingly (an opinion I wholeheartedly agree with). Charlotte sighs and turns to me. “I would really like some beets, mom.” This is another one of those moments when I have a mental double-take and have to repeat what she just said to me, “You want beets???”

“Yes, would you please get me some beets?” (Who is this child, and where did she come from?)

Sean has been gardening this summer.  One of this year’s crops were beets. He harvested them at the beginning of the month, but they’ve sat untouched in our fridge since then. I had been successful at offering an alternative to Charlotte’s beet craving last Thursday, but the desire to eat beets remained. Tuesday night, as I began preparing tacos for dinner, and Sean decided to prepare his beets at the same time. After finishing roasting the beets for an hour in garlic and lemon juice and other stuff, they concluded that perhaps the beets would not compliment tacos and decided to eat them another time.

This morning at 3am, Charlotte called me from the bathroom. In order to ensure that we are giving her enough stool softener, and also to make sure we know she is having a daily stool, she has been told to call us when she goes. We are also supposed to be watching for a few other things she is susceptible to right now (UTI, yeast infection, etc). One of the things we have been warned to look for was blood in the stool. Because of her low platelets, it’s super important to watch for bleeding, because she can’t clot well. In the dark of the night, with only a night light, I think I see something. I ask Charlotte if it hurt to go this morning. She tells me no. I tell Charlotte not to flush. We wash our hands, I put her back to bed, and I return to the bathroom and turn on the light. My heart starts racing. It looks like she has hemorrhaged in the toilet. I actually consider getting a camera so I can send the picture to the oncologist on call. I have visions of racing her to the hospital. Then a calmer voice in my head says, “Remember the beets”. I remember the blood-like color in the sink when Sean was peeling the beets. I remember Sean telling Charlotte of their cancer fighting properties and his fingers stained red from working with them. I go into our bedroom, climb into bed, and nudge Sean. “Sean, did you and Charly eat beets for lunch yesterday?” “Yes, why?” “Sean! I have just about had a heart attack. It looks like she was bleeding in the toilet. I think it might be the beets, I HOPE it might be the beets, it better be the beets, I’m having a heart attack…. I really think it’s the beets. Watch and see if something else happens later today. AND NO MORE BEETS for Charlotte!”