Syrup
One of the thousands of things that worried me most about my son’s treatment was the medicine. Since my son was only 5 years old when I was diagnosed, it was difficult for him to understand that he needed to take medicine every day in order to eradicate and prevent the cancer he was fighting without realizing it. The fact that the medicine tasted like hell also didn’t help at all.
At the hospital they made me understand that it was very important that he take all the medicine and on time. When we were in the hospital, the nurses helped me convince him to take his prescribed medicine with prizes and gifts. When we got home it was something else. Leaving the hospital, my little son thought that everything was fine. When I told him that he had to continue taking medicine, he didn’t like it one bit. The first day was not easy at all, especially emotionally. I imagine that many of you understand what I’m talking about, so I won’t go into detail.
That first night back home I came up with an idea to get my son to accept that horrible but necessary medicine. I decided that I was going to powder the medicine and mix it with some liquid that tastes sweet. Before doing this I called the doctor in charge of my son’s case to consult. The nurse in charge of his case let me know that as long as I am 100% sure that he took ALL the medicine then it is okay with them for me to do this. He warned me that because it is a toxic medicine, then I should take precautions not to breathe any of the dust and not to touch it. I’m not going to lie it scared me, but not as much as not moving forward.
At first I tried to cut the pills and grind them with some of those things they sell at the pharmacy. But they didn’t get powdered so much, nor so easily. I decided that grinding them in a stainless steel mortar might be easier. I ordered one on Amazon and also many medical syringes without needles so I could give him the syrup I invented each time with a new syringe. I took the 20ml syringes so that there was enough sweet syrup with medicine so that it wouldn’t taste like so bad to my son and he would take it without any ifs ands or buts and on time
The syrup was one part strawberry syrup and little filtered water. I tried different syrups to get to what he liked best. Each time always making sure that not even a trace of medicine powder was left. Sometimes this meant that I had to take two syringes until I got into the rhythm of doing this.
After a few weeks of establishing the perfect syrup, I pre-mixed it and poured it into a little jar that I put in the refrigerator and never let the syrup go beyond a week in the fridge. You have to clean the mortar very well every time and use a new syringe for every dose of medicine. I ordered the syringes on Amazon in boxes of 50, which is the largest they sold. Each syringe was individually sealed.
The most important thing about this is that you find out which flavor is most tolerable for your child so that they can take the medicine without many problems. Also the cleaning and starting to make the syringe with medicine just when it is time to give the medicine. Also don’t forget to always use disposable gloves every time you powder the pills (and a mask if you feel you need the added protection).
I hope this trick helps you so that you can give the daily chemo pills that are assigned to your child at different times of the treatment. It’s not easy to see one of the most special people in your life have to go through all this, but if you can make the journey less difficult and ugly for them I think it’s worth taking this extra time of our own time to do this. Also making a calendar and routine of when to take medications will help make them feel like they have control of something in their lives. This helped my son a lot mentally.
