One of the Longest Days of My Life
That is what I told my husband when got home with Annabelle and Henry last night at 10:30. Since I had been up with Henry until almost 2am 6:30 came pretty quick. That is when the baby woke up and I got her back to sleep. Then Henry woke up ready to eat again at 7. I think I wandered around most of the morning getting things ready, it's hard to remember now 😕 I woke up Annabelle because I decided to take her with me on our first trip, just in case. Oh boy was she a life saver. My mom came at 7:30. Henry wanted Captain Crunch cereal but we didn't have any. I called and asked my mom to bring some if she had it and luckily she did. I checked the oil on the car and loaded it up with a pillow, blankets, our collapsible wagon, phone and tablets and chargers, a few snacks, supplies to put numbing cream on Henry's port an hour before the appointment, and some extra Pepsi. My mom warned me because she had felt impressed by my dad that I should 'be attentive". I definitely made more of and effort to pay attention because of that. We left about 8:30 with plenty of time to make it to our appointment at 12:30pm. I filled up with gas. Now, and on the way home I realized I need to make a better effort to just have some things stay in the car and to fill up with gas and check oil the day before. I am planning on making a 'go bag' for every week instead of slowing things down in the morning and feeling like I have to start out trying to remember things. We stopped in Pocatello because Henry and Annabelle were hungry and they also needed to use the restroom. We stopped at Subway and then headed back out. I think we stopped again for another potty break at a gas station. Originally we had plenty of time but with traffic and stops we got there right on time.
We went in and learned how everything works. We get there half an hour early so they have time to access Henry's port and draw blood. They take a weight and blood pressure and temperature. Then we wait in an exam room and talk to the child life specialist and the doctors. Once that is done we go sit in the infusion area while Henry gets hooked up and his meds are administered. Generally, as long as there are no complications, my guess is that Henry would then be de-accessed and we would go home but that is not what happened this time.
Since we are so far away and with the effects of the chemo medicine we were worried that Henry's Hemogolobin (red blood cells) levels would be too low over the weekend. We asked them to just do a transfusion while we were there but it takes at least an hour and more usually 2 to Type and cross Henry's blood with a hopefully compatible blood to give him. At this point I am not super aware of the time because I am so exhausted but checking back at my texts to my husband it was about 5 when they told me that for some reason there were antibodies that made it so they had to do another test to see if the blood was still compatible. At this point Henry had been done with his chemo and we were just waiting. They asked if we just wanted to drive back down the next day and then do the transfusion which would take up to 4 hours or if we wanted to be admitted and then have him get the blood whenever it was ready like in the middle of the night and go home the next day. I called my husband and he said "I don't like either of those choices. Why don't you come home and we can do the transfusion at our local hospital in the morning?" Thankfully because we were trying to be proactive Henry's numbers weren't so low that it was an emergency. Also thankfully, the clinic was willing to work things out with our local hospital so that we could get the transfusion 5 minutes away.
So we headed home. During rush hour traffic. In Salt Lake City. The drive was long. We took a detour that Google Maps said was shorter time wise but felt like eternity. Henry had a number of times where he dry heaved. We stopped for dinner and gas but not in the same stops. Henry really wanted Taco Bell again and the only one on the way home was at a very busy, half reconstructed exit. We took about 20 minutes there to make sure everything was resettled and ready for no more stops. And then trying to get back on the Highway which was 40 yards away, we waited in traffic for 15 more minutes. We finally made it home at 10:30pm. Longest. Day. Ever.
We went in and learned how everything works. We get there half an hour early so they have time to access Henry's port and draw blood. They take a weight and blood pressure and temperature. Then we wait in an exam room and talk to the child life specialist and the doctors. Once that is done we go sit in the infusion area while Henry gets hooked up and his meds are administered. Generally, as long as there are no complications, my guess is that Henry would then be de-accessed and we would go home but that is not what happened this time.
Since we are so far away and with the effects of the chemo medicine we were worried that Henry's Hemogolobin (red blood cells) levels would be too low over the weekend. We asked them to just do a transfusion while we were there but it takes at least an hour and more usually 2 to Type and cross Henry's blood with a hopefully compatible blood to give him. At this point I am not super aware of the time because I am so exhausted but checking back at my texts to my husband it was about 5 when they told me that for some reason there were antibodies that made it so they had to do another test to see if the blood was still compatible. At this point Henry had been done with his chemo and we were just waiting. They asked if we just wanted to drive back down the next day and then do the transfusion which would take up to 4 hours or if we wanted to be admitted and then have him get the blood whenever it was ready like in the middle of the night and go home the next day. I called my husband and he said "I don't like either of those choices. Why don't you come home and we can do the transfusion at our local hospital in the morning?" Thankfully because we were trying to be proactive Henry's numbers weren't so low that it was an emergency. Also thankfully, the clinic was willing to work things out with our local hospital so that we could get the transfusion 5 minutes away.
So we headed home. During rush hour traffic. In Salt Lake City. The drive was long. We took a detour that Google Maps said was shorter time wise but felt like eternity. Henry had a number of times where he dry heaved. We stopped for dinner and gas but not in the same stops. Henry really wanted Taco Bell again and the only one on the way home was at a very busy, half reconstructed exit. We took about 20 minutes there to make sure everything was resettled and ready for no more stops. And then trying to get back on the Highway which was 40 yards away, we waited in traffic for 15 more minutes. We finally made it home at 10:30pm. Longest. Day. Ever.
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