Sunday, December 12, 2010

We got up early and packed the last items we thought we might need to have in the hospital. Someone seriously needs to write a "What to pack when staying long-term with a baby in a hospital" list. I always use those internet beach packing lists when we go on vacation but World Wide Web you let me down this time. The charge nurse had wanted us there at noon but said we could make it as late as 2pm. We left at the last possible second in order to make it by 2pm. The ride down was quiet and somewhat surreal because it was hard to think that we were voluntarily driving our little ten month old to get chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant. We had heard those words before but didn't really know anyone close who had experienced either of these. I told Tom I know it sounds crazy but I wish I knew what chemotherapy and a BMT felt like. At least it would give me some perspective as to how he was going to be feeling. He is not old enough to say that "that hurts" or "I think I'm gonna puke".

When we got there we were greeted by our nurse Alex who showed us our room and I have to say the other room we stayed in when we were here last was nicer. I know it’s not a hotel but it was really dirty. So dirty in fact that before I could put anything away I had to call in a cleaning service (A.K.A my mom) and she came to our rescue within 20 minutes. I could've asked the cleaning staff to come in again but their mops and stuff look filthy and I am a complete germ freak especially now. I found out later that the room was due for a comprehensive cleaning, which is done once a month but they had been so busy that it hadn't gotten done before we arrived so eventually we will have to switch rooms. My mom is better than any cleaning person they could possibly have on staff so I felt comfortable staying in the room we had for now. We unpacked and in no time Grayson's central line was hooked up to 5 or 6 lines that had a bunch of stop cocks (actual medical terminology) and all hooked to different machine that held different meds for him. The machines are mounted on this pole that's on wheels because he has to stay attached to the machines 24/7. We are getting used to it but it is still quite tricky. Alex gave him his first dose of chemo at 5pm and we were all sitting around (me and Tom plus my parents) waiting for something to happen. He just played with some toys we brought and giggled and acted just like he always does. I was very thankful for that because the doctor told us that in worse case scenarios as soon as the chemo enters the body some kids start feeling nauseous and throw-up.

My in-laws and our two other boys joined our hospital party after we got settled so they could check out where Mom and Grayson were going to be living for the next several weeks. They all had to leave at 8 and I was sad to see them go but the nurses were in so often there wasn't much time to think about it.

Grayson did really well all night and his new accessories didn't even seem to bother him. We did have a rough night in that his blood needed to be drawn every 15 minutes during the first 2 hour dose of chemo and then every 30 minutes after that for his second dose. It was a crazy revolving door of nurses. So that was exhausting and I think I got maybe an hour or two of sleep but all the nurses were nice and the baby slept through a lot of it so that is something we should be praising.

Thank you God for no initial reaction to the chemo and for really great nurses.  Thank you for my mother who was willing to come and clean our room for us and for my Dad who brought us yummy corned beef sandwiches. Thank you for my in-laws who were so willing to help us all day with our kids so we could get settled. Thank you for allowing Grayson to sleep fairly well considering everything that was happening to him.