It's Thursday at 11:30am and I am sitting on the couch with a cup of tea and my laptop nursing my hospital hangover from yesterday. It was the longest day we've had in quite some time. Our appointment was a little earlier than the last couple weeks, but I figured we'd roll with it and hope traffic would be better. It wasn't. Also, Eric wasn't feeling well and he forgot his switch when he was in the middle of a game, so this made for a long and whiney drive. The blood lab was nice and quick so that was a highlight. Then off to clinic where we learned that Eric needed both a platelet and a red blood cell transfusion at which point we knew it would be a long day. The transfusions themselves take awhile, but all the in between is what makes it so long - access the port, send a group and screen to the lab for blood typing (has to be done within 72 hours of blood transfusions), give the premeds, run a flush, get the platelets up to the floor from the blood bank, run the platelets, run a flush, get the blood up to the floor from the blood lab, run the blood, run a flush. Luckily the platelets were on site, so we didn't have to wait for them to come over from Canada Blood Services, but unfortunately just as our nurse was about to start the platelets there was a Code Blue. Everyone is fine, and Eric didn't even know that it happened, but I find it quite traumatic. By the time we were finished, 7 hours after our arrival, we ended up in rush hour traffic again. Thank heaven for Kristina, the outpatient Child Life Specialist, who gave Eric a Lego set to keep him occupied. The set was over 600 pieces and he put in the last one just as the flush finished on his blood transfusion. Perfect timing!
Unfortunately we were so long that we ended up missing Joel's swimming lesson (Chuck was working), but on the plus side, we got some A&W for dinner and chilled out for the rest of the evening.
Usually when Eric gets a red blood cell transfusion, he gets quite a boost of energy and is bouncing off the walls. He noticed last evening that didn't happen and he was still feeling quite tired. Then, shortly before bed, he started getting significant pain in his legs. This has happened in the hospital before and best guess is that it is his cells coming back in after treatment has knocked them all out. On the plus side, he woke up this morning with less pain in his legs and while he wasn't feeling great, he did head off to school at regular time and is still there! Not to jinx it, but this is his longest day since Halloween 🤞He also finished this cycle of oral chemo yesterday. I am hoping between the red blood cells to perk him up and the end of the oral chemo making him feel crappy, he'll have a great weekend.
Next steps: bone marrow biopsy on Monday
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