He Can't Eat

Hajime had been crying and his face was red.  I asked him if he was in pain, but he said no. I think he was crying about being sick and unable to eat.

Some people from our church have been bringing us dinner on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. When they bring the food in through the front door, it smells good in the living room.  Hajime's room is right by the front door, so he smells it too.

We eat in the dining room, away from Hajime, so that he can't smell the food as much.

In March of last year,  he had a feeding tube inserted into his stomach.  He has not eaten for a year. He still has his five senses, so of course he can smell.  Nothing is as hard as being unable to eat.  I can't imagine what that would be like. It's just too much for a young 19-year-old like Hajime to not be able to eat.

When I asked him, "Do you want to taste something?" he indicated yes with his blinking. I guess he really wanted it.
I couldn't think of anything that I could let him taste without swallowing it and then be able to suction out right away.
I asked if he wanted some spaghetti sauce we had at home.  But he answered no.
There wasn't anything I could let him taste, so I asked him if he wanted some juice.
He answered that he wanted to take some juice from the feeding tube in his stomach.
I asked him if he wanted me to put it in his mouth, but he said no.
In the end, I gave him some juice and he was satisfied.

He keeps looking at pictures of food on YouTube.  I think he must really want to eat.

Can you imagine how hard this is for him?


(translated by MS)